KEY POINTS:
Comeback apprentice Sam Spratt stole her biggest career success with a masterly front-running ride on Captivate at Te Aroha yesterday.
Spratt, 21, soon found the fence from an outside gate in the Group One $150,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Breeders Stakes (1600m) and controlled the tempo from there.
Three-year-old
filly Irlanda battled bravely for second after having every chance to overhaul the Stephen McKee-trained Captivate in the straight. Favourite Sarah Jay closed well late, edging La Force for third.
It was a fairytale result for Spratt who only decided to return to race riding late last year after a tumultuous start to her apprenticeship.
A spectacular race fall at Trentham in January 2003 threatened to end Spratt's career just when she was taking the ranks by storm.
Horse and rider catapulted over the rail and landed head first in a wasteland full of barbed wire. Doctors told Spratt her resulting head injury was so bad her riding days were over.
Amazingly, she returned to the saddle just six months later, but retired soon after, married leading rider Opie Bosson and had son Cody, who is now almost two years old.
It wasn't until after her marriage dissolved late last year that Spratt decided on another comeback, and was spurred on by the encouragement of her new boss, Pukekohe trainer Richard Yuill.
Spratt has been quick to prove she's lost none of her nerve.
McKee, who was toasting a career high of his own yesterday, had no hesitation in booking Spratt for the Group One role at Te Aroha.
The pair sealed a Breeders' start with an impressive win at Pukekohe over 1400m the previous weekend.
For owner-breeder Richard Moore the Group One success continued a dream run with the tartan colours from Captivate's stable.
But few of those victories are more special than yesterday's prize.
Moore spent countless hours fighting for the life of the Stravinsky 4-year-old's dam, Cappie.
Cappie was found in her paddock at Soliloquy Lodge in Karaka as a 2-year-old with a broken back.
"I was helping her all hours of the day and night and it was touch and go whether she would stay alive for quite a few weeks," said Moore after Captivate's Pukekohe win.
"She never raced but fortunately I was able to keep her as a broodmare and this [Captivate] is her first foal who I decided to race myself."
Cappie has an O'Reilly colt at foot and is in foal to Black Minnaloushe.
The Moore-McKee combination also won yesterday's 3-year-old feature, the NZ Bloodstock Insurance, with Culminate.
* It may have only been against R92 opponents, but Mi Jubilee's overdue success at Te Aroha yesterday sure felt like a group win for her camp.
Mi Jubilee's impressive victory with apprentice Natasha Collett was her first in more than a year of frustrations for trainer Stephen Crutchley and owner Gordon Lumbert.
The main setback has been a left leg injury that may keep the Howbaddouwantit mare ever reach the giddy heights of her 2-year-old days.
As a juvenile, Mi Jubilee's wins included the Ellerslie Sires Produce and Matamata Breeders Stakes.
Her last victory before yesterday was at Tauranga in March, 2006. In her next start she beat just one runner home in the NZ Bloodstock Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha.
With a tendency to favour her leg when she runs the left-hand way round, Mi Jubilee may now be best placed in the north.
Three starts back she beat all but Volscar at Ellerslie, and yesterday she never looked like being headed once tearaway leader Mr Omegan rolled off the fence on the turn.