Teenage horsewoman Courtney Laker enjoyed a dream start to her career when she saluted with her first starter as a trainer at Melton on Saturday night.

The 19-year-old Laker produced Curly James first-up since April and the five-year-old didn’t let her down, leading all the way in the Centre State Printing Pace while holding off Vanquish Stride and Triple Eight in a slick mile rate of 1:51.3 for the 1720m journey.

Curly James was previously trained by David Moran - who partnered the son of A Rocknroll Dance to victory - and Laker acknowledged his role in her securing a training licence.

“I worked with David and he has helped me a lot. He’s taught me so much since I’ve been working with him, and now I’m 19 and wanted to get my trainers (licence) and he said that I could put Curly in my name,” Laker said.

Laker has spent her career to date working with Curly James.

“My nana and my father were lucky enough to buy him at the yearling sales and I’ve been working him from the start,” she said.

Laker said she was confident of a good first-up showing from Curly James.

“He always puts 100 per cent effort into his races and while his track work at home has been really good, his couple of trials haven’t been the best as he’s been very lazy and I’ve been soft on him at the trials, so I knew when David got on him with a change of gear he’d be hard to beat,” she said.

“He looks good and feels good, so we were extremely confident in him tonight if he found the front.”

Laker’s transition into the sport comes as no surprise as her extended family is the prominent Mifsud clan.

“I’m related to the Mifsuds, so my whole family is in it - there’s Rita, Aussie, Rosie, Josie and Uncle Netto - they’ve obviously been a big support,” she said.

“And both David and Kasey (Kent) have been a real big support in my career, along with my Dad and Nan. They’ve all made me who I am today.”

Lightly-raced filly Shesawish chalked up another feature race win when she led all the way in the Group 3 VHRC The Holmfield.

Anthony Butt ensured the Neville Pangrazio-trained Shesawish was up on the bit early in order to hold the lead from the coveted pole positon.

“Nev just left it to me really, we knew we had the good draw and we wanted to make the most of it,” Butt said.

“He said if we really get hammered then he wouldn’t mind if I let another horse go, but she’s a good filly who has always raced well in front, so we thought that we would take a chance and if she’s good enough then she’s good enough,” he said.

The daughter of Wishing Stone has now won four of her eight starts, including the $50,000 Platinum Home Grown Classic (3YO Trotting Fillies) Final.

“It’s great for Nev and Louise who put a lot into the game and to get a horse like this is really exciting for them,” Butt said.