the rise of the female.

​Having written many pieces on female jockeys over the years, it is a subject I have steered clear of recently. Since the days of the Sporting Life, I have championed the need for horse racing to selectively boost the presence of female jockeys in the weighing room. The female makes up half of the world’s population, yet thirty-years ago the female professional jockey was still a novelty, with seasoned professionals explaining that a mixture of thoroughbred racehorses and thin young girls was a recipe for death and disaster, ignoring the stark reality of female riders either dominating of holding their own in other equally dangerous equestrian disciplines.
When Hayley Turner came on the scene, becoming the first female to become champion apprentice ( she shared the title with a male jockey whose names escapes me for the moment ) there seemed a real possibility a female would mix it with the men in the big races. Although she has carved a successful career for herself both holding reins and a microphone, albeit she has won two Group 1’s and a race of similar standing in the U.S., she was never given the opportunity in classic races or even the great handicaps like the Cambridgeshire or Ebor, despite being able to do the lowest of weights.
Hayley is a gem of this sport and as I have written before, when they come to write a new history of flat racing, there should be a whole chapter dedicated to her achievements in the saddle and the manner in which she has conducted herself over in what is becoming a long career. And, of course, if it wasn’t for Hayley, who can say how long the sport would have waited for what Hollie Doyle achieved last Sunday at Chantilly?
Winning the Prix de Diane on Nashwa has propelled Hollie Doyle to the heights of classic winning jockey. Equally important in the Marquand/Doyle household, I suspect, she has equalled Tom’s total number of classic winning rides, a single digit that by the end of his career should be in double figures if his talent is to be fairly rewarded.
Having watched a re-run of Sunday’s race, no one should be in any doubt how well she executed her race strategy, settling the filly in the first two, injecting pace at the mile pole and repelling the sustained challenge of Gerard Mosse’s mount, La Parisienne, winning by the odd French distance of a short neck, though it looked more to me.
John Gosden was full of praise for the ride. When asked a few years ago by Nashwa’s owner to run his eye over a list of potential retained riders, Gosden plumped instantly for Hollie Doyle and I doubt if either owner or trainer have any doubts on their choice. Interestingly, though apparently said tongue in cheek, and make a note of the word ‘team’ in the quote in today’s Racing Post, Gosden said. ‘I’m very proud, as Thady is, because it’s the youth team that are obviously taking over here. It’s quite obvious I’ll be surplus to requirements quite soon, and it’ll be the youth with Hollie and Thady.’
Was John Gosden hinting that he has plans to retire soon, handing the reins to his son, with Hollie in line to take over from Frankie as stable jockey? Intriguing possibility. And if it were to come to fruition, it would as much a game-changer for the sport as a female jockey winning an English classic. Yes, as John Randall wrote in today’s paper, other females have been winning ‘classic’ races since 1971, but they were not what you might term ‘proper’ classics, not in the international sense. Holland, Czecholaviakia, Argentina and Scandinavia, do not represent the crème de la crème of the racing world, and though Sibylle Vogt won the German 1,000 Guineas, it is only a Group 2. The French Oaks is very much a Group 1 and so Hollie has broken through yet another glass ceiling.
The rise of the professional female jockey in Europe is now only a few percentage points off complete. The next goal for Hollie, or any of the skilful female jockeys in this country, if they were given the same opportunities as Hollie, is to win an English classic, with the Derby the Holy Grail of flat racing. What Rachel Blackmore, and to a lesser extent, Briony Frost, has done for National Hunt, Hollie Doyle is now achieving on the flat, with the world her oyster.
And for all those good female apprentices that are coming through now, Hollie is the living example of the maxim ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’. All they have to be is just as dedicated as Hollie, to work just as hard as Hollie, and be as personable as she is.