KEY POINTS:
Danielle Johnson's parents have been careful not to apply too much pressure over having her first raceday ride at Pukekohe this afternoon.
Because that would be an awful lot of pressure.
Danielle, who will partner Diamondintherough in race three, is the daughter of one of New Zealand's finest jockeys, Peter Johnson.
The 16-year-old has had more than 50 barrier trial rides and, as she says, "won about 25 of them, two of them at Te Awamutu on Tuesday".
She is apprenticed to Russell Cameron at Pukekohe and says she is not nervous about taking her first raceday mount.
She is, though, just a little thankful that Diamondintherough, trained by her boss, has a 6-3-0-0 formline and is not among the favourites.
"I've been looking forward to this for a fair while and it will be nice to get it behind me," she said yesterday.
Peter Johnson received multiple arm fractures in a racefall in 2005 and has not yet received a clearance.
He says he can remember his first winner, Storming, at Ellerslie, but not his first raceday ride.
The winner of nearly 1600 races himself, Johnson is careful not to focus too much attention on his daughter's first ride. "I want her to take it at her own pace - like all first-timers she's got a lot to learn, but she's been riding since she was 2 or 3 and did all the pony club things."
Danielle says her father comes to some of the barrier trials meetings and gives her advice.
"He tells me what I've done wrong, but tells me what I do right as well.
"You can get all the advice you like, but in the end you really have to learn it for yourself."
With an attitude like that, there should be another winner in the Johnson household.
