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Apprentice jockey Olivia Kendal had more reasons than most to celebrate her maiden provincial winner at her first day out in the "big time" at Townsville's Cluden Park on Saturday.
Kendal landed Sacred Legacy for youthful Townsville trainer Matthew Mcguire at her fourth ride of the day.
The 24-year-old has been licensed for only a little over a year.
Despite six months out of the saddle with an injury, she has racked up an impressive 44 winners from her 230 rides.
Kendal , who lived in Townsville for several of her schooling years, isn't from a racing background.
She did have a couple of horses as pets growing up at Bohle and then became interested in barrel racing when the family moved to the outskirts of Ipswich 10 years ago.
"I liked horses but hadn't really planned on a career as a jockey," Kendal said.
"Soon after starting a job as a stable hand, I fell from a two-year-old and broke two vertebrae in my back and I thought seriously about not continuing.
"However, the urge continued and I became an apprentice with Beau Gorman at Ipswich.
"Things were going well until I had a fall at Taroom and fractured a femur, which put me out of action for three months.
"I wasn't back in the saddle for long before I had another fall at Dalby and broke a shoulder, which put me out for another three months."
But, undeterred, Kendal bounced back again from adversity and has done the hard yards on country tracks, including Mount Isa where she was successful on country champion Fab's Cowboy and also the promising Han Dynasty.
Kendal caught the eye of the McGuire stable when riding at Mackay recently and she was engaged for rides at the recent Ewan annual two-day meeting, where she rode three winners.
"It's a bit different riding at Townsville where the facilities for jockeys are so much better than those at the country tracks and I hope to get more rides up there where my brother and sister still live," she said.
"The McGuire family have been really good to me so I was glad to be able to repay them with my first provincial winner as it was Sacred Legacy's first win for them too."
"I hope to get more rides up that way as there's a lot of riders down here competing for mounts at the mid-week and non-TAB meetings and there's plenty of opportunities for us fly-in-fly-out guys."
