Arguably Canberra's most prestigious race weekend, the Black Opal Stakes, will now have a Sapphire Coast tie.
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The trainer with the highest score over the two days of racing each year will be presented with the Barbara Joseph Medal for the leading trainer of the carnival.
"It was a very big surprise for me because of all the incredible trainers in the area - for me to get this, I was very rapt to be recognised," Ms Joseph said.
Ms Joseph said she was now 75 and had been plying her trade as a horse trainer for 46 years and is proud of her roots as a Bombala trainer that now calls the Sapphire Coast Turf Club home.
Ms Joseph admits with a laugh she's known about the Medal for a while, but couldn't even tell friends until the Canberra Club announced it.
"They rang me up about six weeks ago and said they were doing it and I was very excited, I wanted to tell people but I had to keep my mouth shut," she said with a laugh.
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She said her stables at Sapphire had swelled from about eight runners to around 40 horses now and two her sons and their partners were also part of the business.
"My two sons Matthew and Paul they work hard and it's like a family thing, their partners get involved and we have a lot of fun," she said.
Ms Joseph has had runners in the Melbourne Cup, was the first female trainer to win the Doncaster and has a slew of awards to her name, but to be honoured with an annual medal at the Black Opal Stakes is a nice cherry on top, she said.
"It's a great time in my career and it's a great privilege to have this medal to present," she said.
The Black Opal Stakes run each march and is hotly contested with a flurry of top trainers from Victoria and NSW putting in strong fields of runners.
"They get all the top trainers from Victoria and NSW there to try and win the Black Opal, we'll be trying to skew a couple towards it ourselves," Ms Joseph said.
She said despite the strength of outside stables, Ms Joseph said she would love to be on hand to present the inaugural trophy to someone from Canberra or South East Association.
"I'd love for it to be one of the locals from the South Coast or Canberra, that would be lovely," she said.
Ahead of the Stakes weekend in March, Ms Joseph said she was very excited to hold a bit of a parade in January for people to consider taking up shares in some of her horses that are almost track-ready.
"It's a bit of a rare occurrence and it will be a lot of fun with champagne and nibbles, we've got a lot of two and three-year-olds that have some shares still available and they're nearly ready to race."
Ms Joseph and her sons also have a number of runners ready for the Grand Matriarch Vodka Restaurant Race Day at the Sapphire Coast Turf Club on Monday.
It is a seven-race card with gates open from 12.30pm.