KIM Talent needed some luck.

And it came in Manangtang, via a five-year-old gelding and a jockey who speaks no English.

In the last two years, the Mildura horse trainer has lost her house to fire, lived in a shed and changed tack from harness training to the gallops.

All while being mum to three kids under 10.

But on Saturday, things took a turn when one of her two charges took to the famous meeting in western Victoria with a Japanese jockey, earning the trainer — and owner — her first winner.

“It was surreal. It was very exciting,” Talent said.

“I think he was about four back on the rail, and I was thinking ‘gosh, I hope they fan out’.

“It’s hard to see where we were standing so I could see him in front and I was just hoping that there was nothing else there going to run him down. But I don’t think they were going to — he was just too strong over the line.”

Anticipate — which claimed the BM58 race and $8250 to close the day’s racing — was piloted by Japanese hoop Kentaro Usui, who is based at Flemington and has one win from 13 rides in Victoria.

He does not speak any English, which Talent admitted made conveying her race plans a little tricky.

“It was very hard to communicate with him,” she laughed.

“I was just trying to encourage him, more than anything.

“He seemed a bit unsure, so I was saying ‘be confident, he’s a strong horse’.’

There had been attempts to communicate via his manager, but when Usui was inside the jockey’s room, no mobile phones are allowed, prompting a mad dash around Manangatang in a fruitless search for anyone who spoke Japanese.

The win marks the end of a gruelling two years for Talent and her family, with the win almost making the slog worthwhile.

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck in recent time. Our house burned down two years ago … on Melbourne Cup Day,” she explained.

“We’ve just recently moved into our new one and lived in a shed for 18 months of that time. We’ve had a lot of bad luck, so it was nice to have that turn of events.

“We’ve had a little bit of success in the harness racing, but this is different and exciting. I’m really, really enjoying it.”

There weren’t many drinks on Saturday night — that’s not their style — but it’s been relived countless times with William, 9, Noah, 6, and four-year-old Pippa who were “jumping around everywhere”.

“It was about spending time with the kids,” she said.

“They were rapt.”