KEY POINTS:
Sam Spratt can yap.
And yap. And Yap.
She could talk for New Zealand.
Understandably there was some talking after Spratt took Saturday's $150,000 NZB Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha aboard Captivate.
And why not.
This was group-one level and Spratt had not been successful in 39 previous
attempts at black-type racing.
From the moment the great Colin Jillings and his training partner Richard Yuill apprenticed Spratt, the then teenager looked a group-one rider.
A horrendous race crash that might have killed her, retirement, marriage, motherhood and an aborted first comeback all at various times stood in the way.
For all that, this is a win that probably shouldn't have happened.
Owner Richard Moore thought about retiring Captivate when she pulled a muscle in her back as a juvenile. Moore thought it might have been more serious and only Trevor McKee's insistence saw Captivate return to the stable.
When Captivate won nicely in much lesser company at Pukekohe last week there was no intention of her running in Saturday's feature.
Two weeks earlier Spratt dislocated her shoulder during a race at Tauranga and had to jump off as the horse pulled up. She was stood down for the day and dislocated the shoulder a second time in the jockeys' room one hour later.
Spratt felt her specialist would recommend an immediate operation to tighten ligaments and tendons, but she was riding again four days later and so far the shoulder is holding together.
Some things are just meant to be.
Moore and his elderly father Dick have been racing horses with remarkable success from the McKee stable for 30 years.
Richard Moore recalled on Saturday Garbadine, Captivate's seventh dam and the Moores' foundation broodmare.
Garbadine was the grand-dam of Soliloquy, an outstanding sprinting mare for Ray Verner whose finest moment was just beating the mighty Balmerino in what is today the group-one Waikato Draught Sprint at Te Rapa.
The win continued the fabulous year Stephen McKee is having in his first solo season. Captivate's win was McKee's first group-one as a solo trainer.
Spratt had a difficult final 120m in Saturday's win - the reins slipped back over her head and were resting on the back of her neck in the closing stages.
She had to lean forward into Captivate's mane as she kicked the mare out.
"There was no way I was going to try and pull the reins back over to the front of my head until we reached the finish, but I got them over pretty quick afterwards."
Spratt is a 22-year-old mother and it's easy to forget that she is essentially only in her second year as an apprentice.
She rode for not much more than a year before she was seriously injured and has been back riding only since January.
To have her balance and rhythm back within only a couple of months is an indication of how much raw talent there is.
For that reason it is not unrealistic to expect her to continue improving and with the opportunities she is getting from her boss Yuill and from outside stables, she could be high on the jockeys' rankings next season.
Irlanda did well for a 3-year-old filly to finish second after drawing a wide gate, and the favourite Sarajay made ground into third.
Second favourite Porotene Gem finished mid-field, rider David Walsh declaring that he could not get the filly in closer than three out for most of the race.
