Horse racing: Samantha Wynne overcomes fall, rides Pivotal Ten in $3.5m race

Pivotal Ten.

Two years ago as jockey Samantha Wynne lay in hospital broken, both physically and mentally, she had a decision to make.

“I had to decide whether I wanted to ride again, whether I could do this to my family,” she remembers.

The then-34-year-old had been involved in a horror four-horse fall at Ashburton on December 15, 2022.

She broke bones, including her pelvis, but – like many involved that day – also suffered a broken heart as the accident claimed the life of a young apprentice jockey and friend of Wynne’s, Megan Taylor.

The fall was in no way Wynne’s fault, but as she stared at the hospital ceiling, she thought of her family back in Ireland.

“I wanted to keep riding but I couldn’t stop thinking about them – if that had been me,” she recalls.

But Wynne loves horses, loves riding and loves racing. She decided giving up those loves would just mean more loss, another victim of one of racing’s darkest days.

Not everybody who keeps going when others may have given up gets what they deserve in life. But Wynne has.

One of her rewards has been exceptional 3-year-old filly Pivotal Ten, the surprise southern star of the summer and fairy-tale story on this Saturday’s $3.5 million NZB Kiwi at Ellerslie.

Pivotal Ten, who was purchased as a weanling for just $15,000, and Wynne will be sporting new colours in our richest race as a half share in the filly has been purchased by Brendan and Jo Lindsay of Cambridge Stud.

You can bet Pivotal Ten is worth a lot more than $15,000 now.

“It is very exciting: to be in the race, to have Brendan and Jo now in the ownership,” says Wynne in her melodic Irish lilt.

Almost as surprising as Pivotal Ten’s rise is the fact Wynne has not only ridden at Ellerslie before but in the Lindsay colours in an Auckland Cup. She finished 13th on Dance Card in the 2021 Auckland Cup.

“I got to know Brendan through a mate of his called Alan Harper, and he has been lovely to me.

“They invited me up to ride in that Cup that year, which was really special, and have sent horses down to me.

“It is great to have them involved in the filly now along with Colin [Wightman, owner], and heading forward, I know I might lose her out of the stable because there might not be much for her down our way.

“I shed a tear when I first realised that, but to be honest, it is the best thing for the horse.”

Wynne had another reality check when she scanned the rival horses who have slots in the Kiwi.

“I looked down the list of trainers we will be up against and it took my breath away a bit.

“But I am over that now. We have a job to do.”

The first part of that job is Pivotal Ten flying from Christchurch to Auckland on Monday, then being allotted her barrier at the public draw at 7pm on Tuesday.

“We are going to take her to Ellerslie on Wednesday for a look around, but she works right-handed every second day at home so I don’t think it will be an issue.”

What might be of more concern is tempo, as Pivotal Ten has been so superior to her southern rivals that she has been able to bully them from the front, whereas she finds herself in one of the hottest speed map races we have seen this Saturday.

“A lot will depend on the draw but I know she can take a trail too, so we have options,:” says Wynne, who rode Lofty’s Gift to win the $170,000 Dunedin Gold Cup at Wingatui on Saturday.

“But we can worry about the draw once it happens. All I can do is look after our filly.

“And I am going to enjoy the week. It is special and I am still here, doing what I love – being around horses.”

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.