Champagne after Riverman Sam’s win caps special birthday night for 96-year-old Joan

Riverman Sam’s hat-trick at Cambridge last night put the icing on the cake for 96-year-old Joan Grice.

Grice turned Cambridge’s mid-winter Christmas party into a birthday bash, celebrating with daughter Delia Cook, son-in-law Phil, and a few of her Cambridge friends.

And after their horse steamrolled home to score his third win on end for Lincoln Farms’ trainer Ray Green, Grice switched from her Pinot Gris to champagne, delighting racegoers in the president’s room with a spontaneous speech.

Delia Cook described the night as hilarious as Grice, brandishing her “monster” $2 to win, $3 to place ticket on their horse, declared she fully intended to reinstate her TAB account.

Riverman Sam’s owner Phil Cook with Joan Grice as she cuts her 96th birthday cake yesterday.“I’m astonished at her memory. She can still rattle off her old account number which she hasn’t used for years.

“She doesn’t have money to burn but I text her when our horses are starting and she drives herself to the Cambridge TAB for her two over three.

“She’s always followed horse racing, she’s very good (looking up form) on the computer.

“As soon as we arrived last night she had her racebook open, working out her picks.”

Going out on a cold night to the races might be beyond many elderly but not this former school teacher who just two or three years ago took herself to Italy for her grand-daughter’s wedding.

“I’m wondering what she’ll do next. She been to Antarctica on her own, to Easter Island and even the Galapagos Islands.”

Grice may have been sporting a few plasters on her face when she had her birthday picture taken - “she had a fight with a concrete path and the concrete won” - but it didn’t stop her from enjoying her special night out.

“She loves going to the races and, while she couldn’t have got down to the winner’s circle to pat the horse in time, the win made for a very special night.”

Phil Cook said he was so pleased for Grice “who was over the moon” with the win, and for the horse, who has now won six of his 21 starts and $41,664.

“Ray’s got him going really well. I told Maurice McKendry when he came back that the win was as good as last week’s at Auckland.”

Riverman Sam (Maurice McKendry) steams past Bad Medicine and Wild Card for a one and a half length win. PHOTO: Chanelle Lawson.Considering Riverman Sam was taking on a higher grade and having his first start from a stand, it augurs well for the future.

But then given the family history, no-one should be surprised that Cook’s broodmare Bronze Lady has produced another good winner.

Cook bought the mare after she had left three foals, two of which were serious racehorses.

Bronze Seeker won 11 races in New Zealand and another 17 in Western Australia, retiring after 232 starts with a bankroll of $435,929.

And Bronze Over had 28 wins and 47 placings here and in the United States, earning $397,994.

“Bronze Over was a really good horse when John and Josh Dickie had him and I knew the dam was up for sale. She was in foal and I got her for “about six or seven thousand.”

That first foal, Art Work, won two races here and another two in Western Australia, “but had issues.”

Riverman Sam was the second foal Cook bred to Bronze Lady and he has another, Im Not The Maid, with Green, a yearling by A Rocknroll Dance.