Wingatui's Courtney Barnes has been giving her all during her two-week stint at the stables of Mornington trainer Patrick Carey.
She had her first metropolitan ride at Moonee Valley on Wednesday, finishing fifth on Sense In The City in a 1200m maiden.
She hasn't had the best horses to ride in her four rides to date but, as Carey told racing.com on Wednesday, the top professionals couldn't have ridden her mounts any better.
Barnes gets her best chance of an Australian win at the home of the Melbourne Cup, Flemington, tomorrow.
She rides the highly rated Kareeming in an $80,000 benchmark 90 1600m.
It's a big field, but Kareeming is in great form, so tune in at 6.15pm tomorrow.
She also rides in race 3 tomorrow at 3.01pm - as does Samantha Wynne - and in race 9 at 6.30pm at Pakenham today.
Pakenham should be on Trackside 2 while Flemington looks to be scheduled for Trackside 1.
Closer to home
Sunday's Oamaru Cup meeting will be my last trip of the season to Oamaru.
I think I've visited ''Paradise'', as sports editor Hayden Meikle likes to call it, 14 times this past season.
Anyway, you could say they've saved the best for last (on the thoroughbred front at least) with healthy fields for Sunday's feature meeting.
The $25,000 Oamaru Cup looks like a vital last hit-out for some Winter Cup hopefuls while the New Zealand Bloodstock Pearl Series continues to attract big fields.
If you're in the region and fancy yourself as an astute form student, the annual Punter of the Year competition will start from race 3. Head to the secretary's office for more details.
The greenback is back
Rumours of the United States market firing up again may well be on the mark.
It appears at least three Otago-trained horses could well be on their way Stateside.
Roxburgh trainer Geoff Knight tells me the stable's top mare, Al Raza, and fellow mare Sage have been sold and are on their way to New York.
The Graeme Anderson-trained Onedin Mach may also be joining them if the deal is completed.
The US market dried up about five years ago as the Kiwi dollar strengthened, but statistics provided to Racing Matters back up the theory the US export market is on the rise again.
When the latest flight leaves, about 23 harness horses will have gone to the States from New Zealand this season, up from figures of 10, 11, 9 and 15 in the four previous seasons.
The peak came in 2006-07 when 173 horses crossed the Pacific Ocean.
Lazy Fiver
Second for Pretorius at Oamaru on Sunday. So we try again.
I don't imagine the Tony Pike-trained Heeby Jeeby (race 5) is at Oamaru on Sunday for a gentle gallop and she will cop a firm track just fine after her second at Ruakaka.
