ALBURY apprentice Lily Coombe is used to riding fast horses but today she will need horsepower of a different kind.
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The 21-year-old will start her day in the first at her hometrack just after lunch and end it all about 8pm in the last at Wangaratta.
In between, Coombe will ride in three races at Albury before making the dash down south to a twilight meeting.
The former Albury High student has about 1½ hours between her last ride at Albury and the first at Wangaratta.
Coombe said it was all in a day’s work.
“It will just be a case of pack up and run,” she said.
“All of the horses are around the same weight so it means I don’t have to carry extra gear so that too will make it a little easier.”
Coombe has now ridden 29 winners in a career that wasn’t always destined for the saddle.
“I was studying law at Warrnambool, and riding trackwork in the morning for a trainer down there to make a little bit of money,” she said.
“It was the trainer who offered me an apprenticeship and I thought why not?
“I’d been around horses at pony club and worked as a stablehand from when I was 15 so it wasn’t a big shock.
“I came back for a three-month stint with the boss at the end of last year and did the same again this year before transferring my apprenticeship here to be closer to home.”
Coombe’s six rides are all for the Cavanough stable, all in the betting.
“I think Steel Ears is probably my best ride, he’s won his last two and did a good job last start,” she said.
“I guess I’m just lucky that Mr Cavanough has given me an opportunity.”