Southern apprentice Kendra Bakker made an emotional return to the winner’s circle at Riccarton Park on Saturday, riding two of the three winners prepared by her mentor, Lance Robinson.
The 24-year-old commenced her apprenticeship in the North Island, before making the move to Christchurch to base with Robinson in March 2024. She gained good momentum in the back half of last season, but was ruled out early this term after sustaining a trackwork injury.
After a long recovery period, Bakker returned to riding in late May and had a good opportunity to get back on the board at her home meeting, with four rides for Robinson.
The first of those came in the Amberley Patrons Rating 65 (2000m), aboard a horse she knows well in Waihora Mist (NZ) (Rock ‘N’ Pop). After settling at the tail of the field, Bakker directed the mare wide on the track and she powered over the top of Our Milly Bee and Can’t Kach Me to take the opener by a head.
Bakker was a mixture of excitement and emotion after the race, expressing her gratitude to Robinson in supporting her comeback.
“That means a lot, she’s quite a hard trackwork ride and she’s given me a bit of grief coming back into it, but I always knew she was going to be the one to get me back, fit enough and strong enough to raceday ride,” she said.
“She does love the wet, she ran home so well at Timaru so I knew the extra distance would really suit, and the big long straight. I knew I had to be patient because I had a big sprint home, and it paid off.
“It’s been a really challenging apprenticeship, it’s definitely been hard over the past seven months being out with an injury for so long. It just makes these wins that much more rewarding.
“I’d just like to thank the owners and especially Lance for putting me on, he’s been the biggest support and I’m part of the best team.
“I’m really grateful.”
Robinson was equally proud of the horse and he was for his apprentice, who followed instructions to the letter aboard the daughter of Rock ‘N’ Pop.
“I was really pleased with the run,” he said. “She (Waihora Mist) just took a little bit longer to come up this year, it took us a couple of extra races to get her really fit, but she stripped a fit horse yesterday and I would’ve been disappointed if she didn’t run first three.
“She’s got a great turn of foot and handles wet ground really well, so I told Kendra to just ride her cold. We’d walked the track earlier in the day and I felt it was a little bit better out wider, so we took the risk coming wide and let her finish off.
“Kendra has worked hard to get herself back, she had a very serious injury. Getting two winners will really give her the kick along that she needs.
“I’m really pleased for her.”
Later in the meeting, Bakker combined with talented mare Bella Luce (NZ) (Belardo) for a gritty victory in the Drug Alcohol Specialists Rating 75 (1600m). Always prominent on rain-affected surfaces, Bella Luce led up in the mile contest and had plenty of challengers in the straight, but held off a game Vamos by a nose at the line.
“I thought she’d be very hard to beat, she’s a Belardo mare and loves wet ground,” Robinson said. “She’d had a nice little three-week break after her last start, so she’d freshened up really well.
“We thought she was a good chance yesterday, and Kendra on with her claim, I thought it would work out well for her.”
Robinson indicated the mare would be back at the races at short notice, with a hope on making the Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations 128th Winter Cup (1600m) field during Grand National week.
“She’ll go to Ashburton then we will look at the National meeting with her,” he said.
“Depending on her rating points, we’d like to look at the Winter Cup, as a race like that on the minimum weight could be ideal for her. That’s what we’re aiming for.”
It was the turn of another apprentice in Liam Kauri in the final event of the meeting, guiding Robinson’s homebred gelding Highland Fling (NZ) (Highly Recommended) to success in the Optimise Fertilisers and Equi-Lise Rating 65 (1400m).
“He’s been a really good, honest horse,” Robinson said. “We bred him ourselves, so we got a really good kick out of that.
“He’s no champion, but he tries very hard and he copped the wet track well. His form has always been on the synthetic, but he can handle the wet ground too so it was a good effort.
“He was powerful late in the race and got right away from them, it was great to see.”