The Mosgiel apprentice had won a New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing scholarship for promising jockeys.
The scholarship enables jockeys to work and ride for a two-week period for an Australian trainer.
Barnes (20), who has been riding as an apprentice since March 2012, said the scholarship was something out of the blue and an unexpected thrill.
''You didn't apply or anything. They just pick you. So it is great that I got picked,'' she said.
She has had 63 winners so far in her career, including 33 wins last season.
She won a 1200m sprint at Timaru yesterday on Red Dirt Girl in her second win of the season.
She felt she had been a ''bit flat'' over the past few weeks but the win yesterday at Timaru would get her back in tune.
She did not know which trainer she would visit in Australia but it would most probably be next winter, when things were a bit quieter in the South Island.
The scholarship pays travel and accommodation expenses as well as a small living allowance.
Boom young jockey James McDonald was one of the inaugural award winners in 2010.
Barnes, who is apprenticed to Shane Anderton in North Taieri,
said he had been a huge help in her career, as had his father and co-trainer, Brian Anderton.
Barnes has about a year and a-half to go in her apprenticeship and said it was a job she loved.
She had been brought up around horses so becoming a jockey was the logical step when she was looking to get into the industry.
The other scholarship was awarded to Canterbury apprentice Samantha Wynne, who is apprenticed to North Canterbury trainer Neil Coulbeck.
• Yesterday was a good day, too, for Jacob Lowry.
The 16-year-old apprentice rode his first race winner, Valiant, for the Andertons, his employers.
