Collett’s bonus at Awapuni

The abandonment of Saturday’s races at Awapuni had a silver lining for jockey Alysha Collett.

Collett, 22, was riding at Te Rapa on Saturday and she wondered what a text she received from Awapuni trainer Gary Vile was all about.

She was out on the track on one of her mounts and had no idea Awapuni had been abandoned.

‘‘The text was asking me to ride his horses at Awapuni,’’ she said. ‘‘I was puzzled how he thought I could do that when I was riding at Te Rapa!’’

The penny dropped when she heard what was happening, but little did she know she was to become the star of the show at yesterday’s rescheduled meeting.

It was a case of third time lucky - Collett wasn’t initially in Vile’s thoughts when he set about booking a rider.

Cameron Lammas was first in line but was injured at track work on Thursday, Christchurch jockey Sam Wynne was then engaged for Saturday but loyalty to her southern connections meant she wasn’t available yesterday.

Answering Vile’s desperate SOS text Collett was on a plane from Auckland to Palmerston North yesterday morning.

She nearly wasn’t as she was feeling the affects of riding six days in a row.

‘‘I thought about saying I couldn’t make it, but then decided not to let the chance go by.’’

Just as well as she bagged consecutive $100,000 races on Vile’s horses, the Manawatu Cup on Jacksstar and then the Manawatu Challenge Stakes.

Riding for dear life, she urged the flying Align mare Miss Appleton to an upset victory in the feature to cap a wonderful day.