Pearcedale horsewoman Sharna Valli, drove out her driveway in darkness last Saturday morning at 4.40am — nothing unusual about that. 
The difference was she wasn’t heading to the Cranbourne training centre, Corinella beach or Bunyip National Park. The destination of the four-hour-plus drive — Wodonga Racing Club. Race day had begun.
Valli had on board two of the nine gallopers she currently has in work. 
One was the recent Bendigo placegetter Took De Chance, the likely favourite in Wodonga’s 1400-metre maiden. 
The other, Belle Sarzy, had shown the trainer some ability at home, but with limited race form was only drawn as second emergency for the 1590-metre maiden. 
Halfway, the news came through that Belle Sarzy had gained a start.
Bogging the truck on the way to give it a wash the previous day was now a distant memory for Valli. 
Playing on her mind, though, was a recent reality check — a trip to Donald (also four hours plus), during which her galloper Play It By Ear suffered a cut on transit, resulting in scratching (on arrival) and a trip to the vet.
Upon arrival at Wodonga, a quietly confident Valli suddenly realised she had forgotten her shoes. On the bright side, the only other time this had happened, she had trained a winner. Her “little green gumboots” would again be the flavour of the day.
Jade Darose had made the trip to Wodonga to ride the Valli horses. 
Darose, married to former jockey Brendan Fenech, juggles motherhood with a dual trainer/jockey licence. 
She has been the first-choice rider for Valli of late, with regular stable riders Ibrahim Gundogdu and Patrick Keane both on the sidelines (long term) after race falls.
It was a delighted Valli who welcomed Belle Sarzy ($91) to the winner’s stall after race one. For the four-year-old mare by Amadeus Wolf, it was the first time in five runs that she’d figured in the judge’s numbers.
“She had trialled well on a heavy track, and today’s surface (heavy 8) was ideal,” Valli explained.
“We’ve been waiting to find these types of conditions on race day and she was ideally suited by the step up in distance (1400m-1590m).”
Took de Chance ($2.80) couldn’t make it a double, running a reasonable sixth in race three.
“Jade got off her after running third at Bendigo last start on the heavy and said she wasn’t really comfortable on it,” Valli said. 
“She didn’t handle it today, it was worse. We won’t run her again on it. She’s better than that.”  
Valli is from a from a pony club/equestrian background, having had success in events including the Melbourne International three-day and the Naracoorte young riders’ three-day.
Valli took out a licence 11 years ago after stints working for Doug Harrison (five years), Ken Keys, Peter Healey and Bradley Marzato. 
Carneggan Angel (her 30th runner) was the trainer’s first winner — at Warrnambool in 2007, ridden by a young Daniel Moor. 
Valli told media at the time: “It’s taken me 18 months to get my first winner but I heard it took two years for Bart Cummings to get his, so I didn’t feel all that bad.”
Ustinov gelding Use the Lot put Valli in the limelight in 2013-14, winning four city races over the summer months.
Valli believes in rotating the training regime of her team around the training track, beach and bush.  Her horses are seen racing all over Victoria.
“I don’t have super-bred horses, so it can be bit tough down here. I’d rather travel and win than just run good races in tougher races.”
It’s worth noting that Valli usually backs up with another winner quickly once she finds the winner’s stall.