At three years of age, Nick Hyde was carrying water buckets around racing stables at Dubbo and that same determination was again to the fore 20 years later when as an apprentice jockey he rode his career first winner Cheap Charlie, on Friday, at Nowra.

Kookabaa is a galloper Nick Hyde will look back on with fond memories if the six-year-old gelding can deliver the apprentice jockey his first winner at Parkes today.