With winter approaching, apprentice Tahlia Hope has scored a timely double at Caulfield as she prepares to ride without her country claim.
Hope added her first Saturday metropolitan double to a midweek pair at Sandown, giving the 19-year-old her ninth city victory.
Both winners, Kapaulenko and Magic Consol, are trained at Horsham by Paul Preusker who Hope says has been a long time supporter of the young rider.
“It’s great doing it for Holly (McKechnie) and Paul,” Hope said.
“They do a great job at Horsham with the team they have and to come here and have two winners is a great team effort.”
With 78 winners on the country circuits of Victoria and NSW, Hope is close to losing her country claim.
“I’ve only got a couple of winners left so I thought if I can get a run on in the city with the three kilos coming into winter it would be a good start,” Hope said.
“And being able to ride 51 (kilograms) is a really good advantage.
“Hopefully it can keep rolling on now.”
Just as Hope’s career was starting to get going, a couple of untimely injuries halted her progress.
She spent six months on the sidelines last year because of a broken ankle suffered at the Ballarat jump-outs.
Earlier this year she fractured some ribs in a trackwork accident that stopped her progress for a month.
“When you’re stopping and starting people can forget you pretty quickly, so to come back and have the support I’ve got is great,” she said.
