By Jordan Gerrans
Apprentice hoop Gabrielle Semmens feels like she is repaying her biggest supporter with every winner she rides.
The 24-year-old has enjoyed a dream start to her career in the saddle.
Semmens – who grew up on the Sunshine Coast – collected two winners at her first race meeting and has quickly added two more in the couple of weeks following her debut.
The latest victory came at Thangool on Tuesday afternoon.
Semmens was a show jumper in her junior days, growing up around the equestrian world, where she was supported – financially and emotionally – in her pursuits by her mum.
The emerging jockey credits her mum - Sue Vita – for putting her on the path she is on today.
“As a little girl, all I wanted to do is ride and mum put her whole life into following me around the show circuit and show jumping,” Semmens said.
“Every penny she had she spent on me with my gear and my horses. I was very lucky, she is amazing.
“Mum got out of horses after being around them earlier in her life but I got her back into them.
“She did not love the idea of being around the horses again when it first happened but she loves it now.”
As Semmens has travelled far and wide across the Sunshine State to establish herself in the apprentice ranks over the last four weeks, her biggest supporter has kept a close eye on her.
“She is really proud,” Semmens said of her mum.
“She was not super keen on me riding race horses in races at the beginning but she loves it now.
“She lives and breathes it, she follows it 24/7.”