Racing: Jockey ready for action

Jockey Ulrika Holmquist. Photo / John Stone

Pssst ... want to put the spotlight on your horse in the north over the holidays?

If so, engage former Cambridge-based, Swedish-born apprentice Ulrika Holmquist, returning to New Zealand for a 10-day break on Boxing Day.

Holmquist began her riding career in New Zealand in 2013-14, making a splash by winning 10 of her 63 rides in her first part season.

Two years later she returned to Sweden to study to be a veterinary surgeon, but has continued to ride and has been very successful. So much so she was invited to represent her country in the World Apprentice Championship, the final of which was held in Abu Dhabi last month.

She competed in the New York qualifying leg and was watched live by Cambridge trainer Ann Herbert, to whom Holmquist was apprenticed in New Zealand.

"When Ulrika got to New York her drawn horse was scratched and she got on an emergency, which was a real outsider. She rode it beautifully and it won, which got her a place in the final in Abu Dhabi.

"She was on an outsider in the final and she didn't feature, but she rode it well." Herbert says she is impressed with the riding style her former apprentice has ended up with. "She looks magnificent on a horse now. And she is doing really well in her veterinary surgeon studies."

Ann Herbert is taking rides for Holmquist, who will be available to ride from the Rotorua meeting on December 27.