MATURE age apprentice rider Jade Doolan has time on her mind.
For starters she is taking gradual steps to trim her weight, losing 10 kilograms over the past two years, down from 65kg, and keeping an eye on the scales to hit the mid-50s in the not too distant future.
But more importantly is the clock in her head, the one she wants to perfect enabling her to make split second decisions as a race unfolds.
"Timing hasn't been the hardest lesson for me," Doolan said. "That one was not to eat so much.
"But I do need to learn about timing. Everyone says the more you ride the more you learn so that's what I'll be trying to make happen whether it's in trackwork, trials or races.
"I want to improve."
Doolan blames herself for not sealing a maiden win on her first day of race riding on January 29 in Innisfail when she pressed Lady Snitch's accelerator too early and they faded to finish second.
"Had I waited a little longer we might have won and the next start I rode her they walked and I was mindful not to take off too early. Then I took off too late," Doolan recalled.
But in Mackay on February 15 Doolan, the life partner of trainer John Manzelmann, had her breakthrough moment when she and Cochrane (Spirit Of Boom-Madame Fly) captured the TAB Three-Year-Old Maiden (1300m).
"It was my first winner and it felt so good and really rewarding," she said.
"I got a really nice trail in behind Milky Rocket and just followed him. He got over-racing on me a few times so I let him roll a little bit and brought him back under me.
"I probably went a little wide on the home turn but I wanted to give him a clear run so he had no excuses and he kept finding and found the line really nicely.
"When I hit the front I was worried that I might have hit the lead too soon and I was pretty rapt. My partner did the interview and he was happier than me."
Doolan never harboured plans to be a jockey but circumstances conspired to force a change of heart.
"Dad was a trainer and I worked with him until he passed away and then I came to work for John," she said.
"I had my trainer's licence and took over those horses John sacked and I liked. I bought them and trained them and did that for a while but we had a shortage of jockeys two or three times in a row in the bush and I said to John I don't know why I couldn't do this. He said get a licence and I did."
She cut her teeth in numerous trials and jump-outs from Central Queensland to Doomben in Brisbane and concedes the business on raceday is a whole new game.
"Riding in races is 10 times different to trials but I love it," she said.
Yep, another timely lesson.