Allpress still on track
It just hangs there, so close and yet so far.
Jockey Lisa Allpress is wondering just what she has to do to get these final four wins to become first woman to reach 1000 New Zealand career victories after a weekend where it just wasn't on the cards.
At Matamata on Friday, Allpress ended up taking four rides to finish her day with a still-impressive two second placings and a third.
She had taken all the confidence that, with a scheduled 10 rides in Gore on Saturday, the magic mark was sure to fall.
Instead, even the heavens seemed to be conspiring.
"It was racing through rain and cold.
"Watching the television, at Wellington [racing], it's all hot and sunny."
One trainer made late scratchings out of two of her mounts, citing safety reasons, while Allpress just could not catch a trick on her other rides.
In the feature $50,000 Gore Guineas, the Paul Taylor-ridden Absolut Excelencia won by a nose from Allpress on the back on Berenice.
Allpress had got Berenice behind pacemaker D'Cash Man, who was hanging, and managed to push between the runners to get clear.
But good work is not always rewarded when Berenice made her move Absolut Excelencia shot through on the inside and responded gamely to take the post.
It just summed up Allpress' weekend. "I've actually had five seconds and about three thirds.
"[The goal's] still there, it's a bugger, really.
"It will [fall], you've got to keep working away."
Allpress had already stated the four-figure mark has rented too much space in her head, so she must reapply herself in action in Wellington today.
From there, it's back to Gore on Thursday and then Wellington again on Saturday.
Her final ride today is her best chance, the remaining four are not too strong in their fields.
"I think just because it's so close, you think if you could just get a winner at [each] meeting you'd get it over and done with.
"The law of averages, I've had 15 rides since my last winner and I'm on a [career] average of one in seven, so I should be in for a good day."
