Samantha Collett will be following in family footsteps after accepting an invite to represent New Zealand in the Japan Racing Association’s World Allstars Jockeys’ Series in August.

The daughter of former successful jockey Jim Collett and Trudy Thornton, who is still riding, has enjoyed an outstanding season and with 111 winners on the board this season she holds a 23-win margin on Chris Johnson in the race for the jockeys’ premiership.

“It looked pretty exciting to me and after talking it over with Dad I was definitely happy to accept,” she told The Informant.

“Dad rode in the series twice in the 1990s and he took my granddad with him on one trip. He’ll be coming with me when we fly to Japan and the four-race series will take place on consecutive days at Saporro racecourse on August 25 and 26.”