Lisa Allpress
Trish Dunell
Tireless jockey Lisa Allpress has no plans to rest on her laurels.
Allpress, 41, is the frontrunner to take FastTrack Insurance Jockey of the Year honours at Sunday night's New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards in Auckland after a breakthrough domestic season.
The Wanganui jockey has ridden successfully in Singapore and Japan in recent seasons, but focused her efforts at home last season and ran out a comfortable winner of the premiership, her 171 wins eclipsing runner-up and reigning champion Matt Cameron by 17.
But it was her treble of Group One wins - the most she has achieved in any one season - through Dukedom, Valley Girl and Luna Rossa and two other "special" wins that she took most satisfaction from.
"I'm really happy with the season. I rode some really nice horses; rode for good people and got great support from so many different people," Allpress said.
"The Group One wins were right up there but so were horses like [New Zealand Cup and Marton Cup winner] Jimmy Mac and Endure, who won the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders' Stakes. Winning a stakes race for Mr [Kevin] Gray was one of the highlights of the season for me."
For all her success, Allpress - who was apprenticed to Gray - still had regrets.
"I won the most Group Ones I have in a season, but the overall number of wins was something of a disappointment," she said.
"If I hadn't had a couple of big suspensions and the fall [at Otaki last November], I could have had a fair crack at breaking James McDonald's record [of 207 wins in a season].
"In some ways it was a season that got away from me a bit. But I'm not down and out yet, so I might have another go in another couple of years."
Allpress' goal for the new season is to ride in November's Japan Cup and she was expecting to hear whether her application to ride in Japan was granted any day now.
"I really want to ride in the Japan Cup. If I can pick up a good ride in that race, it would be a dream come true," she said.
"I've applied and now I'm just waiting to hear from the JRA [Japan Racing Association]. I've got a lot of support up there. I've got a trainer and an owner there that have backed my application and there have been other stables asking when I'm arriving back up there."
Allpress, who comes up against Cameron, Opie Bosson, Michael Coleman and Danielle Johnson for champion jockey honours, rides at Riccarton on Saturday, where she will combine with Gr.3 eStar Winter Cup second favourite North And South.
However, it will be the only day of the three-day carnival she will attend, having already booked for several rides at Te Rapa at Saturday week's Gr.2 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate meeting. - NZ Racing Desk.
Allpress, 41, is the frontrunner to take FastTrack Insurance Jockey of the Year honours at Sunday night's New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards in Auckland after a breakthrough domestic season.
The Wanganui jockey has ridden successfully in Singapore and Japan in recent seasons, but focused her efforts at home last season and ran out a comfortable winner of the premiership, her 171 wins eclipsing runner-up and reigning champion Matt Cameron by 17.
But it was her treble of Group One wins - the most she has achieved in any one season - through Dukedom, Valley Girl and Luna Rossa and two other "special" wins that she took most satisfaction from.
"I'm really happy with the season. I rode some really nice horses; rode for good people and got great support from so many different people," Allpress said.
"The Group One wins were right up there but so were horses like [New Zealand Cup and Marton Cup winner] Jimmy Mac and Endure, who won the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders' Stakes. Winning a stakes race for Mr [Kevin] Gray was one of the highlights of the season for me."
For all her success, Allpress - who was apprenticed to Gray - still had regrets.
"I won the most Group Ones I have in a season, but the overall number of wins was something of a disappointment," she said.
"If I hadn't had a couple of big suspensions and the fall [at Otaki last November], I could have had a fair crack at breaking James McDonald's record [of 207 wins in a season].
"In some ways it was a season that got away from me a bit. But I'm not down and out yet, so I might have another go in another couple of years."
Allpress' goal for the new season is to ride in November's Japan Cup and she was expecting to hear whether her application to ride in Japan was granted any day now.
"I really want to ride in the Japan Cup. If I can pick up a good ride in that race, it would be a dream come true," she said.
"I've applied and now I'm just waiting to hear from the JRA [Japan Racing Association]. I've got a lot of support up there. I've got a trainer and an owner there that have backed my application and there have been other stables asking when I'm arriving back up there."
Allpress, who comes up against Cameron, Opie Bosson, Michael Coleman and Danielle Johnson for champion jockey honours, rides at Riccarton on Saturday, where she will combine with Gr.3 eStar Winter Cup second favourite North And South.
However, it will be the only day of the three-day carnival she will attend, having already booked for several rides at Te Rapa at Saturday week's Gr.2 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate meeting. - NZ Racing Desk.
