Jockey Sam Spratt laughed at suggestions from her winning stable that she has a penchant for going on a shopping spree after a win.
For someone who had to pause momentarily to think about how old she was on Saturday after powering Mufhasa to victory in the feature race inHastings, the 26-year-old from Pukekohe probably wouldn't be too handy at working out the change after each purchase.
What didn't escape the effervescent rider was that her 5-year-old son, Cody, was celebrating his birthday and her percentage of the cut from the first prizemoney came at an opportune time.
"I spend it all on him. It's his sixth birthday tomorrow so he'll cost me a lot on the bouncy castle," Spratt said, clutching her trophy as her stable workers stole pecks on her cheeks.
Originally from Wellington, Spratt rated the victory as "definitely right up there".
"The more he wins and the older he's getting, the more buzz they are getting," she said of Mufhasa, attributing his success to the rapport he has with trainer Stephen McKee, strapper Amy Durrant and the owners.
"He's getting older now so it's great to see him pop up and win," she said, vividly recalling the same race last spring carnival when Mufhasa hit his face on the front of the gate, breaking his nose and partly fracturing his eye socket.
"Anything can happen in a race. They can trip and fall over, so even though you're confident you can never be 100 per cent sure."
