Lisa Allpress saluted to the sky after a sentimental victory aboard Mike Breslin’s promising stayer Donnybrook at Riccarton Park on Saturday.
Allpress has been one of the country’s top hoops for over two decades including winning four national jockeys’ premierships, and for much of her career, she has ridden with the last name of her husband Karl Allpress, whose father Lloyd sadly passed away recently.
Her mount for the Gold Club Rating 75 (1800m), Donnybrook, was the first balloted horse for the Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations Winter Cup (1600m) during the meeting, but after missing a place in the feature field was the favoured runner to win his consolation event at $3.20.
Promising Southern galloper Riviera Rebel was second-favourite at $5.80, but his chances were soon put in jeopardy with the saddle slipping under apprentice Yogesh Atchamah, who managed to control the tempo in-front while Donnybrook bided his time comfortably midfield.
Allpress showed her experience allowing the gaps to come for the gelding at the top of the straight and went to the lead inside of fellow Central Districts visitor Margherita Veloce. The pair battled out the final 50 metres with neither giving up the fight, but Donnybrook was slightly stronger in the closing stages pulling away by three-quarters of a length from a game Margherita Veloce.
Returning to the winner’s circle, Allpress was swift in expressing her gratitude to her late father-in-law after the victory.
“It means so much, it’s been a toss-up whether I could get away with wearing the black armband and you always wonder if there’s a bit of help from up above,” she said.
“Realistically, this horse was a really good chance in this race as well so hats off to Mike for planning it out and pulling it off.
“It really brings life into perspective and there’s more to life than just racing, I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for the Allpress family as well as my own. I’ve been lucky enough to nearly be an Allpress as long as I was a Mumby, so they’ve been a huge part of my life.
“I was looking over my shoulder thinking Gryllsy (Craig Grylls, jockey of Margherita Veloce), just get away, but he (Donnybrook) really fought well. I thought the 1800 would suit him, just getting over a bit more ground each time and the blinkers went on last start.
“He’s a really nice horse in the making, I think we’ll see a lot of him in open company.”
Bred by Stirling Bloodstock, Breslin purchased the Zed five-year-old for $40,000 at the 2021 Karaka Yearling Sales with the intention of finding a future Cups horse, and the win was Donnybrook’s fourth in just 14 starts.
“He’s a horse that obviously we had aspirations to run in the Winter Cup if everything fell into place, and this race was always there in case he didn’t make the field,” Breslin said.
“I wanted to give him a trip away to finish off this campaign with him and he coped very well, he’ll have a short let-up now and hopefully he’ll show us what we think he’s capable of in the late spring and early summer.
“We’ve only just got him up to the trips that are going to suit him, he’s been a typical Zed in that he’s taken a bit of time to mature but he’s always been a natural athlete.
“We’ve been patient with him, he was bred and purchased at the sales by myself and his co-owner Graeme Andrew to make a Cups horse, and that’s what we hope he’ll do in the next 12 to 24 months.
“He’s going to come home and probably have a couple of weeks off, then we’ll be setting him up to get in on the minimum (weight) in a race like the Manawatu Cup (Gr.3, 2300m) hopefully.”
Breslin is hoping he can pick up further spoils at Riccarton before returning to his base at Awapuni, with Showbastian Coe lining up in the inaugural Ripple Creek Equine Polytrack $100,000 (1200m) on Wednesday.
The son of Showcasing has figured prominently on the synthetic surface at Awapuni of late with two wins and two placings from his last four starts, and he will run under a luxury weight of 52kg in the feature courtesy of Jim Chung’s two-kilogram claim.
“He’s been really good (since getting to Christchurch), he had a gallop on the poly with race-rival Kana on Saturday morning and worked really well,” Breslin said.
“Ratings-wise, there are a few better than him but he’s probably the only horse in my stable that is a synthetic specialist. He really seems to enjoy the surface at Awapuni, so hopefully it’ll be the same at Riccarton.
“We realised the qualifying conditions of the race and he had to have at least three runs on the synthetic, and we always thought if his form was good enough, we’ll go down and have a crack at it.”