GIRLS GOING FOR GLORY
Why these three jockeys have a real chance of making National history
When the movie National Velvet was selected for preservation in the United States national Film Registry, it was hailed as being ‘culturally, historically and aesthetically significant’.
The 1944 film tells the story of horse-mad teenager, played by elizabeth Taylor, winning the Grand national.
The significance of the real thing happening at Aintree on Saturday is hard to over-estimate.
For only the second time in the race’s history, three of the 40 runners will be ridden by female jockeys. They will be competing on level terms and on equal pay with their male counterparts.
In contrast to the first women to ride in the gruelling fourand-a-quarter mile, 30-fence marathon who generally partnered no-hopers, Rachael Blackmore, Katie Walsh and Bryony Frost all have feasible chances.
Money has poured on amateur jockey Walsh’s mount, Baie Des Iles, trained by her husband Ross O’Sullivan. Monday’s odds of 50-1 have been shortened to 16-1, with some bookmakers predicting it could be their biggest loser.
The grey mare has decent form claims having run well in both the Irish and Welsh nationals. The soft ground will also suit. Punters have shown great faith in Walsh. After she finished third on her father Ted’s Seabass in 2012 — the best finish for a female rider — the duo were sent off 11-2 favourite the following year only to finish 13th to Auroras encore.
One can draw parallels between Taylor’s movie character Velvet Brown and Frost.
In her breakthrough season, Frost has often spoken of a pony-mad childhood riding bareback on long summer days around her native Dartmoor.
It has made her a natural in the saddle. She has a chance of winning the race her father Jimmy did as a jockey on Little Polveir in 1989 with her mount, Milansbar.
Milansbar, trained by neil King, is a strong stayer and sound jumper and Frost’s only ride on him resulted in victory in the Warwick Classic Chase, the same race won by last year’s national winner One For Arthur as a stepping stone to Aintree.
Blackmore is Ireland’s only professional female jump jockey. She rides Alpha Des Obeaux, an eight-year-old owned by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary and trained by Mouse Morris. They teamed up to win the 2016 Grand national with Rule The World and Alpha Des Obeaux has a similar profile.
There have been 27 horses in Grand national history ridden by female jockeys, starting with 200-1 shot Barony Fort, who refused four fences out under Charlotte Brew in 1977.
Then, a female jockey in jump racing was a novelty. no longer. Four of the 28 races at last month’s Cheltenham Festival were won by women, one of them Walsh.
Ironically, it is in jump racing — seen as more physically demanding because of its inevitable falls and injuries — that women are being handed better horses in bigger races.
Top level Flat racing, with its big business owners, seems less inclined to take a chance on a female jockey despite increasing evidence that they can match their male counterparts.
In 1973, Billie Jean King, winner of 20 titles at Wimbledon, took on Bobby Riggs in a tennis match soaked in male chauvinism and billed as the ‘Battle of the Sexes’. They made a movie about that too.
Saturday’s Grand national is real life. A female jockey might not prompt a seismic change but it could speed up the sport’s gradual evolution to greater competition between the two genders.
Before the 2013 Cheltenham Festival, Walsh gave an interview to Sportsmail in which she said: ‘Realistically, I can’t ever see a champion lady national hunt rider. But there is no reason a girl can’t win the national or other big races. I nearly did!’
On Saturday, she will have another go.