Bull has been in good form late with a 10 per cent win rate from her last fifty races. That number is just down from her impressive 11 per cent career winning rate.

Laura Lafferty from Warrnambool was ultimately awarded the gong, however, Bull was excited just to be nominated.

"I actually didn't even know. I woke up in the morning to a notification on Twitter and I was a bit shocked," Bull said.

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"I had no idea, I have obviously had a good season but I probably thought there were other apprentices that had better, so it was good."

The 21-year-old hoop believes the award is nice recognition for the hard work that she has put in throughout the year as an apprentice.

"I've worked pretty hard so it's nice just to be noticed that I've done the work and that I've had to take the opportunities that I have gotten and that I've had to prove that I'm good enough to get the job done," she said.

"I'm just very fortunate that I've got a boss that does support me and I've got some good people around me so it does help."

One horse in particular that she has a good record with is the Simon Ryan trained Ashford Street which she has steered to three victories from six starts together.

"I absolutely love that horse (Ashford Street) he means a lot to me now and I rode his half-brother Grandview Avenue and they're both just ultimate professionals," she said.

"I do think Ashford Street with a little bit of time I think he will get out to further, so that's even exciting going forward because he is a nice horse and he seems to be only getting better with racing, which is just amazing."

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The rising jockey also has a special connection with the horse after their win together at Casterton in July, not long after one of Bull's close friends passed away.

"I think it probably makes it more sentimental that I did lose a close friend and she was probably my biggest supporter in racing," she said.

"God she used to love it probably more than I ever did. She just got such a big thrill out of watching me ride and I think that was because she knew how hard I've worked to get to where I am and what I've been through."

Bull admits that she considered taking a break from riding after the tragedy but continued to ride in honour of her friend.

"I'm never going to forget and he's going to be a special horse for me forever because you don't go through those sort of things every day and he kept me going because I was actually going to stop riding," she said.

"I was going to just have a couple of weeks off and take time away and spend it with her family and then I was like no, I'm going to keep riding because it's what she would have wanted."

As for her immediate future, Bull said she was just focused on "getting rides". Although racing is still allowed to proceed without crowds, lockdowns have made it more difficult for apprentice jockeys trying to outride their claim.

This week, for example, Tatum doesn't think she'll be riding until Saturday.

"It's a sticky time of year where all the jockeys are out riding and they're trying to get fit for Spring, so jockeys that are generally never going to the country meetings are slowly venturing out because they're in isolation or they're trying to get fit and trying to get their eye in for Spring," she said.

"Ideally I just want to get through my claim but at the minute I do just want to be riding."

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