Kate's knock out win's for gym

Bunbury apprentice jockey Kate Witten told her father and thoroughbred trainer Rob on Sunday morning there was one race she wanted to win in Bunbury, the $15,000 Denning Boxing and Fitness Gym Maiden (1008m).

Witten said she wanted to win the maiden race because the gym had given so much to her, with strength and conditioning coach Peter Stokes working with the 20-year-old apprentice after a serious knee injury threatened to derail her career.

And it was aboard the Kevin Buswell-trained Secret Assault that Witten got her wish, going from second on the turn to power down the straight and hold off the fast-finishing Spin Drifter to claim the race.

Witten said he had been training with Stokes for three years and he had a profound impact on her career.

“To win this race was pretty special to me,” she said.

Witten said she was confident she would get the win on Secret Assault, after the pair had some good trial runs.

“It was a fairly weak field,” she said.

“So I was confident that if the horse who turned up to race like it did in the trials then he would win.”

Witten returned to the saddle in November after a fall on the track in February 2014 during a run caused an injury to her anterior cruciate ligament, which needed a knee reconstruction.

She was forced into more surgery in July last year after an injury reoccurred and spent months in rehabilitation, working with Stokes at the gym to gain strength in her knee to return to the saddle.