Twins Emma and Lucy Longmire had their first exposure to horses as toddlers, playing with the family’s shetland ponies. 
When the family moved from Gunning in the NSW Southern Tablelands to Mexico for three years, the youngsters attended the local riding school and learnt the basics of hacking and jumping. 
On returning to Australia, the family settled in Goulburn, where the girls joined the local pony club. 
At 15, they began to ride trackwork. The following year, the pair went to the Gai Waterhouse stables for a fortnight as part of their school’s work-experience program. 
Gai was so impressed with the girls that she invited them back. It was an invitation they were thrilled to accept, returning for the next two sets of school holidays. 
“We were privileged to ride the likes of Juggler and Nothin’ Leica Dane in their warm-up work,” Emma recalled this week.
Although both Emma and Lucy considered careers as jockeys, they soon realised they would be too big. 
So, at 18, the Longmiers went to work as stablehands at local stables. Emma joined the stables of Ken Callaghan, while Lucy linked up with Danny Williams. 
Seeking further experience, Emma headed for England, where she spent four months. 
“I worked in a livery stable and then a fox-hunting stable. It was a fantastic experience,” she said.
Back in Australia, Emma couldn’t decide on a career. She couldn’t see a way to make money from horses, so she joined the army, initially in the Army Reserve, before enlisting full time and serving for five years.
On leaving the army, Emma returned to racing, riding trackwork for Graeme Spackman and Wayne Hudd. 
Meanwhile, Lucy had taken out her trainer’s licence and begun training on a part-time basis, working just one or two horses and building from there. 
“I was very fortunate in that I was also riding trackwork for the late Guy Walter and he passed on several horses to me to train, which was a big help,” she said. 
In 2012, Emma followed Lucy into the training ranks. 
Finding it difficult to attract clients, Emma leased some horses on her own behalf and began training them, in order to get a start. She too was helped by the multiple Group 1 winner Walter, who gave her horses to pre-train for him. 
Her first winner was Seas Rising at Wagga Wagga. Lucy was the first of the twins to train a metropolitan winner, when she won with Exceed And Exalt on the Kensington track. Emma’s first metropolitan winner came with Thunder Rising, who won a TAB Highway Handicap.
The pair decided late last year to form a training partnership, but only formally entered into the arrangement on March 23 this year. 
They named the business Twin Star Racing and set up on a property adjacent to Goulburn racecourse, developed by Lucy. The property has three houses and three stable complexes. 
They began with just eight horses. Three wins and four weeks later, they have 14 horses in training.
Gaze comes good
There were happy faces all round at Doomben last Saturday when Canberra mare Single Gaze, trained by Nick Olive and ridden by Kathy O’Hara, scored her first win since a horrific fall in last year’s Australian Oaks at Randwick.
The fall saw O’Hara hospitalised and the mare sent for a lengthy spell.
Single Gaze was having her fourth run back from that spell in the listed Mandate Tails Quality (1600m) at Doomben, having shown with her last-start third in the Group 3 Neville Sellwood that she was getting back to her best. 
Despite that good run, she drifted from $4.60 to start at $7.
O’Hara had the mare in second place until turning into the straight, where she surged to the lead before fighting on determinedly to hold off the fast-finishing Col ’n’ Lil, with Cantbuybetter third.
Schedule shines
Mudgee trainer Mack Griffith looks to have a smart one on his hands after last Saturday’s win by Schedule ($5) in the Class 2 TAB Highway Handicap (1400m) at Randwick.
From the outside barrier in the 10-horse field, in-form jockey Kerrin McEvoy restrained his mount, settling well back in the field, before starting to make ground from the 800 metres. 
In the straight, Schedule finished strongly to score by 1¼ lengths, drawing away. 
It was an impressive win and brought the five-year-old’s record to three wins from just six starts.
“He’s better than your normal Highway horse,” McEvoy told media. “He’s a lovely horse to look at and he’s open to improvement over further as well, so there are options for him in the coming months.”
Anna delivers
The final race on the Randwick program, the 1400-metre benchmark 76 for fillies and mares, saw Kembla Grange mare Heavenly Anna land some good bets.
Trained by Kerry Parker, ridden by Jay Ford and backed late from $4.60 into $3.80 favourite, Heavenly Anna was prominently placed in running but looked to have the job ahead when Gretna, ridden by Tommy Berry, turned into the straight with a three-length break. 
Despite her 59.5kg burden, Heavenly Anna responded bravely to strong riding, coming down the centre of the track to claim Gretna in the shadows of the post.
“She’s a good, honest mare and it’s nice to win at Randwick,” said Parker. 
“She probably struggled with 59.5 kilos, but once she got balanced and wound up, she was able to pick that leader up. 
“She’s one of those mares you just love to get to the outside. If she gets bunched up between horses, she just doesn’t let down.” 
Heavenly Anna will now be set for the Group 3 Dark Jewel Classic (1400m) at Scone on May 13. 
Song stars
Canberra trainer Steve O’Brien combined with two-kilo claimer Lachlan King to win the $35,000 Magic Albert Murrumbidgee Cup (1800m), feature of last Sunday’s program at Wagga Wagga, with Rose’s Song ($21). 
The seven-year-old mare finished powerfully to record an easy win, scoring by 3¼ lengths. She will now go straight to the Wagga Gold Cup on Friday week, May 5. 
Earlier, the Joe Cleary-trained Cliff ($7) won the MTC Guineas Prelude under Nick Souquet.
The day’s other feature, the Town Plate Prelude, went to the David Heywood-trained Man of Peace ($6), ridden by Simon Miller.