Lisa Allpress couldn’t have wished for a better return to the saddle at New Plymouth on Thursday, guiding home two winners from as many rides.
Allpress suffered an fractured vertebra in a fall after the line at the Riccarton Synthetic meeting in early August, halting a fantastic start to the season, where she had guided five winners from just 13 rides. The four-time premiership winner was subsequently unable to fulfil an invitation to the World's Jockey Series in Japan.
Four months later, Allpress was back at the races and partnered two of Allan Sharrock's gallopers, the first of those an exciting three-year-old debutant in Komocean.
A half-sister to Group One winner Signify, Komocean was a well-backed commodity at her first race-day appearance and after missing the start, Allpress was patient and allowed the filly to find her feet in the testing conditions. Picking up ground quickly turning for home, Komocean looked a big danger coming down the outside and kicked away in the finish, putting two lengths on a game Royal Sovereigns.
"It was good to get back into it, I probably could've started last week at Wanganui, but I elected to take another week to watch our son play sevens up in Tauranga," Allpress said.
"The two horses that I rode today, I had ridden at the jump-outs a couple of weeks ago for Allan Sharrock at Hawera and they both performed very well that day. When I saw them in the nominations, I quickly rang him to see if he'd done anything about riders, so I was lucky he hadn't.
"Komocean was a little fractious in the barriers which she definitely wasn't at the jump-outs, she was just anxious to get on with the job and was very wriggly, which affected her start. But, the race panned out fine from there, I was back a bit further and wider than I wanted to be, but it's a true testament to Allan and what he can do, when these horses go to the races, you know you are sitting on something with a decent chance.
"Full credit to his team, they do such a fantastic job."
In the following race, Allpress partnered another on debut in Borninastorm, having her first start as a five-year-old in the McDonald Real Estate Maiden (1200m).
The mare's co-owners, Sharrock and Paul Foreman, were rewarded for their patience, and after finding the lead early, Borninastorm never looked in doubt as she put the field away by an extending eight lengths to stablemate Bubbles Up.
"I actually saw her as a very early two-year-old at the Stratford jump-outs, which would've been three years ago now," Allpress said. "I remember watching her and Allan said 'she's a bit like you, she's got short legs but she can run fast'.
"We've been waiting for her for a long time and I saw her again winning a trial at the end of last season at Waverley, and spotted her again at the jump-outs, so it was great to finally get on her at the races."
The double increased Allpress's career tally of domestic winners to 1950, with the goal of 2000 keeping her motivated through the recovery period.
"I've still got that goal of the 2000 winners, so that is my focus," she said.
"My family have kept me motivated, I've received so much support and I have a lot of very good people around me, people in racing and general friends that have been a huge support through the whole process.
"I'm very lucky and I just like to get out there and ride horses, that is the easy part."
Sharrock had an outstanding afternoon at his home venue, with juvenile filly Almakeitgood collecting her maiden in the Grangewilliam Stud Maiden 2YO (1100m) and Librero winning the Revital Fertilisers (1400m) through the card.
