Darwin apprentice Emma Lines will be honoured at the 2023 Top End Racing Awards on Friday night.
The 17-year-old ended the 2022/23 season as the leading apprentice with 21 wins – not bad considering she only kicked off her career in December.
After memorably saluting in her first race start, Lines’ strike rate was remarkable as she finished third in the jockeys’ premiership behind Jarrod Todd (42) and Sonja Logan (30).
She has had her ups and downs these past nine months, including leg and ankle injuries after falling during a race and in a trial at Fannie Bay.
On one other occasion, she was stood down because of heat exhaustion, but that didn’t deter the teenager, who stuck at it before winning the $75,000 Darwin Guineas (1600m) on Tubthumper in July on Day 1 of the Darwin Cup Carnival.
Darwin Guineas 2023 – Tubthumper – T: Phil Cole
Lines won’t be at the Top End Racing Awards, as she is currently in Queensland after electing to ride for Darwin trainer Phil Cole on the dirt surfaces at Betoota on August 26, Birdsville on September 1-2, and Bedourie last Saturday during the 2023 Simpson Desert Racing Carnival.
With Lines’ father, David, accompanying her to Queensland, it will be left up to her mum, Rosa, to accept the award on her daughter’s behalf on Friday night.
“I have been told that I have to prepare something for Mum to read,” Lines said.
“The past nine months have been more than I could have ever imagined.
“I’m really excited for the next 12 months and hopefully I’ll have a good crack at the premiership.
“I’m a competitive soul, so it’s always nice to push myself and see how far I can go and how many winners I can get.”
Cole and Lines were the leading trainer and jockey at Birdsville, where they also combined to win the feature sprint with Vunivalu.
Partnering Equal Balance for SA trainer Kym Healy, who has close ties with Cole, Lines won the Bedourie Cup (1600m) with Healy’s Taipan Tommy coming second.
“I’ve had four rides on Equal Balance for three wins and a third, and one was on Darwin Cup Day in August,” she added.
Lines, who also rode Cole’s Exgames to victory at Bedourie, was the leading jockey following the Simpson Desert Racing Carnival with five wins and six thirds from 19 rides.
The Cole stable will be racing at Winton on Saturday, but the apprentice will fill the role of strapper after incurring a one-week suspension – her first ban – following one other ride at Bedourie.
Riding interstate for the first time, Lines said Betoota was an “eye-opener”, adding that it was “awesome” to ride at the famous Birdsville meeting.
“They race clockwise at Betoota and the home straight was 450m,” Lines said.
“I ended up walking the track twice – it was a lot to get used to.
“It was good to camp at Birdsville for the two weeks – the people there were nice.
“The atmosphere was like Darwin – it was great to experience that.
“It was good to win my first Cup at Bedourie, but the Darwin Guineas trumps it.
“The Guineas has been my biggest highlight.”
It’s back to Darwin on Monday, as Cole and Lines will feature at Fannie Bay on Saturday week.
Lines is more than happy to continue riding in Darwin and Alice Springs, but she is starting to consider her short- and long-term goals.
“(I’ll) go back to Darwin and see what happens,” she said.
“It’s good racing there at the moment and I’ll be able to get good rides.
“Keep getting the experience and learning more, and then hopefully branch out.
“(We’ll) just see how things go as to whether I go interstate and start riding.
“It’s all up in the air at the moment.
“I’ve been asked to ride interstate, but it hasn’t been set in stone.
“I also have Kym Healy down in South Australia.
“(We’ll) see where things go – hopefully go down and ride a couple for him.”
Lines, who had seven wins during the Darwin Cup Carnival, said travelling to Queensland with Cole was always the plan and that for her dad to make trip was a bonus.
“I think he was more keen than I was to go and he has really enjoyed it as well,” she said.
“He’s learning how to be a horse person.
“It’s been four weeks and he’s already leading them around and learning how to ride them.
“It is nice travelling around, but these places have minimal to offer and we do most of our sight-seeing in the first couple of days.”
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