By Garry Dell
Apprentice jockeys Amy Graham and Anna Bakos stole the limelight at Longreach's TAB meeting on Monday.
Graham, 26, recorded her first multiple winning TAB day with a treble while Bakos, 26, rode a double for local trainer Mark Oates.
Bakos took her tally of career wins past the 80 mark and Graham hit the magic 20-win mark to enable her to apply for a provincial permit.
The pair have taken slightly different paths to becoming jockeys - Bakos having grown up in a harness racing family and being involved with horses from a young age, while Graham had some experience with pony clubs and little to do with racehorses.
Bakos worked with her harness racing father from a young age, driving pacers and trotters in training and often riding the horses around the family property.
"I was only slightly built and no worries with my weight so I decided to apply for a jockey's licence," she said on Monday.
"It was a mixed start to my apprenticeship because on Roma Cup Day in November 2021, I had a fall and broke my pelvis.
"That put me out of action for a total of five months.
"I just had to rest for the first three months and slowly got back into gear.
"At my first ride back, I rode a winner and I've been quite happy since and I enjoy the bush circuit.
"I'm off to Augathella on Easter Saturday and treat the travelling around as sort of getaway holidays."
Her best day in the saddle was four winners and a second at Cunnamulla.
Bakos is indentured to Ipswich trainer John Hubbard and engaged to be married in January next year to Michael Schrapel, who comes from an equestrian background and also lives and works at the Ipswich track.
Schrapel's father was a member of the Australian equestrian team at the Munich Olympic Games and also a member of the judging panel at the Sydney Olympics.
Graham described her first multiple TAB success as "a great day".
She gained her start on a racing career when spotted riding horses around pony club events at Grenfell in New South Wales and became associated with a racing stable there as a general stablehand.
Slightly built - she rides at 51kg - she gained her riding permit in New South Wales and began her career at Queenbyean.
Graham moved to the Sunshine Coast in the 2020-21 season and became indentured to John Zelke.
She followed Zelke to the Gold Coast three years ago.