KEY POINTS:
Horse racing has a saying - they all come back.
It refers to retired jockeys and has a large element of truth. But few make their comebacks from such adversity as Sam Spratt has experienced.
She was one of the finest youngriding talents New Zealand has produced in
the past decade, but a spectacular race crash in January 2003 ended that.
Racing at Trentham, the favourite Dragon Tiger and Spratt hit the running rail soon after the start.
Horse and rider catapulted over the rail and landed head first in a wasteland full of barbed wire.
Dragon Tiger was mangled and Spratt lay unconscious in Wellington Hospital, her career almost certainly ended by severe head trauma. Doctors told her to forget about horses.
Six months later, to the amazement of all, she was back riding at the races.
She rode six winners and retired, married leading rider Opie Bosson and settled into domesticity to produce a son, Cody. She and Bosson separated six weeks ago, and she decided to return to what she does best.
She moved from Matamata to her parents' property in Hunua, reverted to her maiden name and resumed riding work at Pukekohe for trainer Richard Yuill, to whom she was apprenticed when he trained at Takanini in partnership with Colin Jillings.
A week ago, her comeback was still two months away.
But on Monday when Yuill asked, "Do you want to take rides on Saturday?" Spratt said, "Why not?"
The 21-year-old, who six weeks ago had not even considered riding again, has five mounts at Te Rapa today.
She will also race at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.
Yuill said no one need be worried about Spratt's physical fitness despite the remarkably short lead-in time.
"She rode one for me at the trials the other day. Don't worry, she's fit."
Spratt showed remarkable talent from the start, kicking home 77 winners in her first 18 months of riding.
She looked to have a bright future as one of New Zealand's best.
When she retired to married life after her brief comeback, many said it was because she was scared.
That would have been understandable if it were true - but it wasn't.
"I was never scared - it was simply that I didn't want to be there at the time," she said. "The will to win wasn't there.
"I'd have my gear bag packed, andI didn't want to take it to the races."
She says it was not until a year after the accident that she realised how sick she'd been.
"Six months was way too early to make a comeback. I realise now how grumpy I was at the time because I'm normally a very happy person."
She has no memory of the fall or the time around it.
"I don't remember flying to Wellington that day, or my time in hospital. Occasionally I get sketches of it and it's like recalling a dream - it's very vague."
In keeping with the fearlessness she has always displayed in race riding, Spratt is not spooked by watching her video of the crash.
"My friends get me to play it when they come around. It's like I'm watching someone else go through it."
Spratt has re-signed her apprenticeship with Yuill and has nearly two years of that time left.
She was so successful that she needs only 17 more wins before she loses her 1kg apprentice claim.
One - or even more - of those wins, she hopes, will be today.
"It feels good; the passion's back."
