At the same time, the Kings Plains-based greyhound trainer was enjoying a breakthrough year on the racetrack.

Kennel star, Apollo Speed, claimed a deserved feature final victory in the Goulburn Fireball as Worthy powered her way to the 2022 Goulburn trainer's premiership as well.

"What a year it was. I lost my nephew [Aiden], my father [Barry Curle] and my uncle [Kevin] all within a few months of one another, so that was really emotional for us," Worthy said.

"Dad always had dogs when I was growing up and I was always pestering him to go trialling or to the racetrack. He had three daughters and I was the only one who followed in his footsteps, and I think he really enjoyed having someone to do the dogs with."

"So it was a really hard year off the track and an especially trying time...but the dogs gave us something to look forward to. They made us get up every morning and kept us going."

"We've got about 34 greyhounds on the property, ranging from race dogs to brood bitches to oldies and retirees. I'm still working three days a week as well so it keeps us busy, but we just love them to pieces."

Worthy, who is also an assistant in nursing and allied health at Dudley Private Hospital in Orange, co-trains her greyhounds with husband Dave.

The pair, who race predominately at Goulburn after the track at Kennerson Park in Bathurst was washed away in 2022, combined for 57 wins over the past two years.

Dave the first to heap praise on his wife as we celebrate her achievements on International Women's Day.

"Lisa is just so dedicated to those dogs. I come in at 6pm and have a beer and she might not come in for another hour or so after that. She's lasering dogs, checking them over and putting coats on them. We're up at 5.40 in the morning slipping dogs, feeding dogs and then she heads off to work at the hospital," he said.

"The rug Apollo got for winning the Fireball lays on the lounge here and the only time it goes away is when the grandkids get here so they don't ruin it. There's more pictures of dogs on the walls than grandchildren here."

The Worthy kennel continued its good form in 2023 with Shelly Speed, a half-sister to Apollo Speed, claiming the Greyhound Of The Year trophy at Goulburn as well, while Lisa finished second to fellow Central West participant, Scott Board, in the premiership race.

"It's a special thing winning these types of awards, a real thrill. We got those dogs from Paul and Pam Braddon and have been blessed to train both Apollo [Speed] and now Shelly [Speed]," Lisa said.

"We also had success with some of their littermates and are in the throw of making Bridies Sugars [a full sister to Apollo Speed] the next brood bitch in the line. We've just done all the paperwork and DNA testing for her and when she comes on season next, we'll think about breeding her to hopefully continue this great run."

The couple is enjoying the same dizzying levels of success so far this season, but they are buoyed by the commencement of work on the "much-needed" upgrade of the Lithgow racetrack.

"This year we've started off slow, but we always seem to hit stride mid-year and we've got some pups who are getting close to racing. We just can't wait for Lithgow to be finished because it's such a great track and we've got nowhere else around here to take our dogs," Lisa said.

"Goulburn and Richmond are both two hours away, so we need Lithgow to get up and running and the likes of Beth Cook, Darren Northey and Andrew Mathias do such a good job so it will be great reward for them too."