Doyle on a mission to strike gold at Ascot

HAYLEY TURNER was in the saddle when Thanks Be made one of the biggest stories of Royal Ascot last year — but Hollie Doyle reckons she was just as pleased as her winning colleague. Turner’s victory on the Charlie Fellowes-trained filly in the Sandringham Stakes ended a 32-year wait for a female jockey to succeed at the royal meeting. Gay Kelleway’s success on Sprowston Boy in the 1987 Queen Alexandra Stakes being the only win for a female jockey was a tiresome statistic to Doyle (below) and the other female jockeys. Doyle said: ‘I was so pleased it was Hayley because she has been riding so much longer than me. I was also relieved and I think all the other girls riding there were as well. ‘Every day it was being highlighted we might become the first female jockey to ride a winner since Gay Kelleway. It was getting a bit boring to be honest but I suppose it wouldn’t have been talked about unless it was possible, so that is positive. ‘Now Hayley has done it, hopefully it will quieten down a bit and in the next few years it will become a regular occurrence.’ Turner, joint champion apprentice jockey in 2005 and the first female in Britain to ride 100 winners in a year, has been in the vanguard for British girls on the Flat. The pool is expanding with Nicola Currie, Josephine Gordon and Megan Nicholls competing alongside Turner at Royal Ascot next week. But there is no denying 23-year-old Doyle is currently Britain’s most successful female Flat jockey. She set a new female record of 116 wins in a year in 2019 and already in this campaign has 44 winners. But Doyle says it took time for her to gain confidence during her first three seasons which yielded only six winners. She said: ‘It was a slow start but not everyone takes off straightaway. At the time, it was frustrating but it has probably worked out in my favour. ‘I had a few highs and lows I had to deal with, so if anything happens now I should be immune to it. ‘I never felt like giving up but at the time I probably thought I was not good enough. My confidence is fine now.’