South Oakleigh horsewoman Janine Stewart had an infectious smile, an unconditional love for family and a passion for harness racing.
Sadly, the adoring wife, mother and grandmother lost her courageous battle with cancer last week.
Janine had been a B Grade trainer for a little over two years, but a recent Facebook posting said it all: "Janine became a friend to all she crossed paths with in harness racing".
After graduating as a mature age student from the Gippsland Harness Training Centre at Warragul in 2016-being recognized as Student of the Year-Janine began to follow her dream of buying and then preparing her very own horse.
Well-known horseman Steve Austen, from Labertouche, near Warragul, said he first got to know Janine about seven years ago.
"I was then training out of the Southern Speedways complex, Oakleigh South and she turned up one day wanting to talk about horses, training methods and other information," Austen said.
"Soon afterwards Janine would be there every day helping me on a voluntary basis. She was just a lovely person with a fantastic nature. She became a great friend.
"One day we talked about the training centre course which I had completed myself. So she rang the co-ordinator Des Hughes to find out more and no time later she'd enrolled.
"After earning a stablehand's and trainer's licence along the way, I saw a lot more of Janine.
"She just had such a love for the sport and she'd often be my strapper but also help out with feeding up and whatever other chores were needed.
"I can honestly say that I would have struggled to keep racing without her because I was then trying to juggle the horses with full-time employment."
After winning the Student of the Year award, a humble Janine said she had learnt something at the centre every single day.
"It has been life changing and my next step is to buy a horse and start training," she told friends.
Janine did buy a horse named Glam Rock and trained the gelding at Southern Speedways.
The horse had his first start for the rookie trainer at Yarra Valley on March 9, 2017, and finished third, driven by Greg Sugars.
It was just seven runs later, fittingly at Warragul, on June 5 that Janine landed her first victory. Glam Rock had been unsuccessful in 33 races prior to that day.
And after a few placings at Cranbourne and Warragul, the pair tasted further success, again at Warragul. On both occasions, Greg Sugars was the successful driver.
They had a handful more runs before Janine became ill. Sadly, Glam Rock was the only horse Janine got to the races, but she achieved a number of lifelong dreams in a short time.
Glam Rock, now racing in South Australia, for trainer-driver Gina Bell, ironically again put his best foot forward just four days after Janine's passing, winning at Adelaide's Globe Derby Park track.
In a nice touch, Steve Austen wore the race colors registered to Janine at Cranbourne last Sunday.
"I wanted to do something fitting and I was rapt, along with Janine's family, when the stewards gave me permission," Austen said.
"Janine's husband Michael was there, along with their children Kiah, Connor, Heath and families, including Janine's granddaughter.
"Heath got married only few weeks ago and Janine was determined to be well enough to attend – and she did with flying colors!"
A funeral for a popular and well-liked Janine will be held tomorrow, Friday, at 2.30pm in Mordialloc, a beachside suburb of Melbourne.
Harnesslink extends its thoughts to Janine's family and friends.
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura