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By Ray Hickson

It would have been quite the spectacle if you spotted Jenny Duggan in her car earlier this week around the time her manager phoned to say Godolphin wanted her to ride for them in a $1 million race at Rosehill on Saturday.

Jenny Duggan after winning on Torrens at Randwick. (Pic: Steve Hart).

The way the popular apprentice describes the scene you’d be forgiven thinking the car had pogo sticks for wheels – that’s how excited Duggan was to being handed a huge opportunity on Ojai in the Inglis Rural Property Golden Gift (1100m).

Being head hunted by Godolphin is a clear endorsement of just how well the 43-year-old has been riding since she returned from the well documented serious injuries sustained in a fall last year and she’s tickled pink.

“It’s funny how all of a sudden all the luck comes,’’ she said.

“My manager called me on Monday morning and said ‘you’ve got a ride in the Golden Gift’ and, dead set, I was in my car and I was jumping up and down yelling for about 10 minutes. It was amazing.

“When I first came back to ride in town and rode my first winner I thought 'I could never be happier than this', then all of a sudden I got a ride in a Listed race and I was thinking the same.

“Next thing Godolphin is booking me for a ride in the Golden Gift. It’s a non-claiming race, they could have picked anyone. I have to pinch myself.”

The Duggan comeback story hit maximum exposure when she recorded the biggest win of her career on Torrens in the Listed Tattersalls Club Cup at Randwick on October 23.

And she’s not resting on that success. She collected six city winners in October including a double at Rosehill last Saturday and added another at Randwick on Tuesday.

But she also says coming back from injuries such as those she sustained in the fall on Scone Cup Day last year get harder and she’s not sure there’s another comeback left in her.

We're talking a broken nose, fractures in her neck, skull, right shoulder blade. Plus AC joint, heel and wrist damage and three bleeds to the brain.

Nobody would have blamed her for hanging up the saddle, especially with three children at home who want her to remain healthy despite knowing what she does is for them.

“You work so hard to get back doing what you love,’’ she said.

“Sometimes you think to yourself 'is it ever going to happen'. When I was out injured I didn’t know how I would feel coming back riding.

“I wanted to come back but I didn’t know how I was going to feel. Now that the rewards are here it feels really good.

“I have said to myself I don’t have any more falls in me. This comeback was really testing, just trying to build up the strength again, and I suppose nobody is getting any younger.

“I love horses, I love riding. It’s not the fall that’s the hardest it’s the comeback.”

Ojai made her debut with a narrow win in the Kirkham Plate (1000m) at Randwick on the same day Duggan claimed her breakthrough Listed success.

She didn’t ride in the race, Tim Clark was on board, but she recalls watching the filly chase down Queen Of The Ball and all of a sudden Duggan is riding an $8 chance in a $1 million race.

“I was watching Rachel King on the second horse and it was running about a bit then all of a sudden I saw Ojai coming and she finished off so strongly,’’ she said.

“A lot of the time you might get a ride in a race like this on a horse that’s not so favoured. To be on a horse that’s come off a last start win and has obviously been primed for it, it’s something special.

Ojai wins at Randwick on October 23

“I suppose I feel like the hard work is paying off. That’s how it goes. There’s nothing like consistency. It’s hard to say you’re always going to stay on top but if you can keep being consistent that’s a big thing as a rider.”

Duggan has eight rides on the Golden Gift program and is keen to continue her association with Undeniable in the Petaluma Handicap (1100m) after they chased home Pandora Blue two weeks ago.

The Matthew Smith-trained mare started her preparation in April and after a couple of early flops she’s been a model of consistency with three wins from 10 subsequent starts.

“I thought she was so gallant in defeat the other day. She always sticks her neck out,’’ Duggan said.

“She has a nicer draw than the other day and that will help her. Matt is training in such good form at the moment so I hope she can keep going. She didn’t feel to me the other day that she had come to the end of it.”

All the fields, form and replays for Tuesday’s Randwick meeting