She needn't have, but Lisa Allpress worried when she got an email from Government House recently.
Lisa Allpress. Photo: Photosport
Instead of what the professional jockey thought it was, the message informed her she would be made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's honours list for services to the racing industry.
"It's just quite overwhelming really. It's just not something that I ever thought I would receive.
"It's actually quite funny because it was an email from Government House and my tax was coming up and I thought 'oh my god, I haven't paid my tax and they're trying to get the money'.
"I know that I've had a pretty good career but yeah, I was just blown away."
Pretty good was an understatement.
Allpress has more than 1600 wins, including around 100 internationally, has won four national jockey premierships and, in 2013, was the first woman in New Zealand to achieve 1000 career wins.
Last year she was invited to ride in the World All-Stars Jockey series in Japan, while earlier this year she was the first female jockey to win a race in Saudi Arabia, competing in a World Jockey Series race meeting.
But Allpress said her New Year's honour was not just recognition for her.
"There's a lot of people that put so much time and effort into the entire industry that probably don't get acknowledged.
"As a jockey, you're one of the first ones to get credit on race day but, at the end of the day, there's been hours and hours of work go into that horse before you hop on it.
"I'm just one of the lucky ones that's on the back of the horse at the races, but I would hope that this award is not just about that, that it would be maybe a bit about my personality and work ethic."
And about her willingness to give back.
The president of the Whanganui Jockey Club for three years, Allpress has been a patron of the club since 2017.
She also often volunteered for Riding for the Disabled in Whanganui and organised a fundraising dash at the Whanganui Jockey Club's 2019 Cup Day.
It all made for a busy life but Allpress said that was something that not only did she not mind, but had been key to her success.
"My parents have a huge work ethic. From a young age I wanted a pony and all the rest of it and so my parents made me work for that.
"I don't come from a family with a lot of money. My parents both worked really had to enable us to have ponies and we had lease paddocks around town, we never had our own properties.
"I had to get up every morning and go and check my ponies before I went to school and then straight after school I'd be riding. I had a job every weekend to do a paper run and all that money went straight into my ponies to help mum and dad get us round the show circuit.
"So I had a pretty strong work ethic drilled into me from a very early age."
