Well, bit of a baptism by fire for Crystal Conning on her debut Churchill Downs ride.
Seems the track throws up incidents pretty much all the time.
She rode her unraced 2YO filly Urban Diva into a fast finishing 5th place, but that was after she was completely pole-axed at the start when the horse to her immediate right just jumped and went bang.
Like a greyhound heading across the face of the field from box rise, it made an immediate sharp turn toward the fence and Crystal copped the brunt of it.
She was knocked back to last on settling losing about 3 lengths in the scrimmage.
“It was a savage check. That horse just veered the second it hit the ground across me and my filly just stopped,” she said.
This was a 900m maiden for unraced babies and Urban Diva was 9 lengths off the lead by the time they had gone 300m.
But Crystal was patient and controlled and recovered well, stalking the mad pace and waited to make her move as they turned.
Urban Diva finished like a bullet between runners to wind up 5th, beaten half a head out of 4th. The check at the start cost her 4th spot.
“All good experience and I just enjoyed being out there,” said the Aussie hoop.