female jockeys, though mainly female jump jockeys.

​With exceptions, though mainly on the flat, horse racing in Britain and Ireland when it comes to jockeys remains male-dominated. The sport prides itself that we are a diverse sport, with females taking on males as equals, yet, I would argue, that prejudice against females still exists by both trainers and owners, especially the latter, I would suggest.
On the flat, Hollie Doyle and Saffie Osborne have risen to be in the top twenty over the past few years, and though riding fewer winners than Doyle and Osborne, Hayley Turner remains as popular and as in demand as ever. Outside of those three, name another female who might have rides at, say, Royal Ascot, and then ask how many females will even ride in a classic or Group1 this season, even though there are another dozen perfectly competent female jockeys who could be relied upon to make a good fist of things if given the opportunity in a Royal Ascot handicap?
Over jumps, with the one significant outlier, the female jockey is languishing amongst the also-rans. And, yes, the same can be said about fifty male jockeys, all capable, few who will ever get the chance to compete at the top level.
It is surprising, at least to me, that the Sex Discrimination Act became law in 1975 and it was several months later before the Jockey Club became obliged to issue National Hunt riding permits to females. By the end of that year, females had ridden in 145-races and won 10. All amateurs, of course, as in 1976 very few people in the sport thought there would ever be professional female jump jockeys.
And, of course, the Jockey Club treated females differently to men. Did you know chin-straps were made compulsory for women long before they were made compulsory for men. It had something to do with women having long hair.
The point I am attempting to make clear is that though the female is the equal in ability and success in all other equestrian sports, when it comes to horse racing in the fifty-years since the female was considered equal to the male only two British female jump jockeys have won Grade 1 races, Lizzie Kelly, who we lost to motherhood, as we lost Bridget Andrews, with the majority of Grade 1’s over jumps won by one female jockey, the exiled Bryony Frost.
Any argument for female jumps jockeys to receive an allowance in this country, as is the case in France, as demeaning as it must be to be considered a lesser jockey, is thrown to the wind by the existence of Rachael Blackmore, one of the most successful jockeys riding over jumps at the present time and considered not only the equal of the best but better than most. Yet Blackmore came to this sport late in life and only turned professional as she was getting few rides as an amateur and if it was not for the intervention of the O’Leary brothers and Shark Hanlon, and latterly by Henry de Bromhead, she might well now be working in the equine science industry.
The number of professional female jockeys in Britain at the moment is quite small, with most of them already receiving an allowance due to lack of winners. In the main these women only ever ride outsiders in races and rarely appear on t.v. Although it would be unfair on their male equivalents, for the good of the sport, I believe it is time, at least for a period of experimentation to accumulate data, for a female to be able to claim the 3Ib allowance until they have ridden between 125 and 150-winners in all races. There should also be a return to the series of female jockey restricted races and one good-quality race a year restricted to female jockeys so that a) females are given the opportunity to sit on a better quality horse and b) should be a terrestrial televised show-case ‘blue riband’ race in the calendar for female jockeys to aspire to winning.
Furthermore, and this will be proven on Saturday-week, we need Bryony Frost back riding in this country. Paul Nicholls has booked her for Stay on Fay in the Aintree National, obviously the outsider of his five, and I will guarantee she will receive more attention than those who will ride Ditchet’s other four runners. Frost is box-office and we need box-office.
In the coming years, the sport will lose both the Blackmore and Frost effect, arguably the two most popular jockeys riding today, and there is no female jockey in a position to take their place at the top table. All the experts spoke in glowing terms as Lilly Pinchin advanced from 7Ib claimer to becoming a fully-fledged professional, yet how many winners and how many opportunities has she received since? Charlotte Jones, in the north of England, was similarly praised as a conditional and yet her name nowadays only appears occasionally on race-cards. Yes, the same can happen for male conditioners when they ride out their claim but Joe Soap or Fred Fancy will only thrust the sport into the limelight if they go on to become the next A.P.. A top-achieving female will be a story to go beyond the Racing Post. Fifty-per-cent of the world’s population are female and for this sport to become nationally recognised as equality diverse it has to have a larger proportion of its jockey population female and to achieve that ambition our female jockeys should receive a little help. Not charity but opportunity.