Female jockeys to break the Derby drought?
Five female jockeys have a chance to create history at Ellerslie on Saturday.
New Zealand’s female riders have no problems matching their male counterparts on a daily bassis but the New Zealand Derby is one race that continues to evade them.
It’s been two and a half years since Michelle Payne became the first female to win the Melbourne Cup but for more than three decades female riders have been unable to salute the judge in New Zealand’s premier three-year-old race.
But there have been close calls. Cathy Treymane was first past the post in the 1987 Derby, on Accountant, but was relegated to second on protest.
Sam Spratt, who has won 16 Group I races, was beaten by just a short head when What’s The Story was runner-up in the 2016 Derby and also finished second on Prince Kaapstad. Lisa Cropp has also finished second in the Derby.
But Danielle Johnson (Mission Hill), Alysha Collett (Endowment), Rosie Myers (Humble Pie), Sam Collett (Time Lord) and Spratt (Tavlin) have a chance to change all of that in Saturday’s $1 million race.
The lack of success for female jockeys, who were first represented in the Derby in 1978, is a statistical oddity.
Female riders had won the three other Group I classics - the New Zealand Oaks, plus the Two Thousand and One Thousand Guineas - before the turn of the century. The same can be said for the Auckland, Wellington and New Zealand Cups, Railway Stakes, the Telegraph and the Great Northern Steeplechase.
Kiwi jockey Dianne Moseley won the Group I Doomben Cup in Australia in 1982 and female riders have won the Group I Thorndon Mile at Trentham 10 times in the last 30 years but for some bizarre reason have never stood on top of the Derby winners’ dais.
Linda Jones was the first female to ride in the NZ Derby, in
1978, and Maree Lyndon was the first to be placed when finishing third in 1986.
The five females have a strong chance to break the drought in
2018 but nothing will come easy in what is arguably the most open Derby field in the last decade.
Danzdanzdance, the sole filly amongst the capacity field of 18, opened up as a $4.20 favourite in final field betting, after drawing well at seven. Scott Base eased in the Derby market after drawing wide and shared the second line with On The Rocks at $5.80, with Mission Hill at $8.20.
Of the female riders, Johnson’s mount Mission Hill is the pick according to the bookmakers at $7.