‘Being a girl in a man’s world was never an issue for me. It’s achievable’
Hayley Turner returns to the scene of her historic victory last year happy in the knowledge that a new wave of women jockeys could soon be sweeping past her
Thirty-two years had passed since the last woman jockey had won a Royal Ascot race, so you can understand why Hayley Turner left her family at home 12 months ago when she rode the 33-1 shot Thanks Be in the Sandringham Stakes.
Female riders have made leaps in racing, but Royal Ascot has been fallow ground since Gay Kelleway won on Sprowston Boy in 1987. As 27 runners contested last year’s mile handicap for fillies, though, Thanks Be belied her odds, threading through to beat the Queen’s runner, Magnetic Charm, by a neck.
Media duties caused Turner to hit Fridaynight traffic and miss her rides on Newmarket’s evening card. Apologies to her family were also required.
“It was a big surprise, I have to say, because although the trainer was quite confident, I didn’t have it in the front of my mind that I was going to go home a winner,” she says. “But yeah, it was quite nice, because I hadn’t planned any special trip with my family. If I was on a fancied one it would have been completely different.
“I tracked the right horse – Her Majesty’s horse – and got a good run through them. With big fields like that you can afford to take your time and play it cool.”
By the standards of 33 years ago, women jockeys are out in force again this week. Hollie Doyle (Glen Shiel), Josephine Gordon (Golden Lips) and Megan Nicholls (Ashutor) are all in the saddle – but at expected odds of 20-1, 28-1 and 33-1 respectively. Turner rides the 20-1 chance Onassis for Charlie Fellowes in Thursday’s Sandringham Stakes, and while Doyle – who rode a female record 116 winners last year – is in demand on the Royal course, the plum rides in the big races still go to men.
In her 20th year as a jockey (minus a twoyear sabbatical), Turner, 37, is the elder stateswoman of the weighing room. She has won Group One races on Dream Ahead and Margot Did, ridden in Dubai on World Cup night and was the first woman to pass 100 wins in a season. She wears her seniority well.
“I think it’s nice that the girls can see it’s achievable and it gives them some drive, so yeah, being a girl in a man’s world has never been an issue for me because everyone’s been pretty fair,” she says. “The lads I’ve worked with have never looked at me any differently.
“When I was starting [in 2000], Michael Bell [the trainer] pushed for me to put me where I am now, and that was not fashionable at the time. Now it’s fashionable, so that makes it easier. And not just the training and the fitness, the racing schools. Nutrition as well. Times have changed massively on that front.”
The new wave of Flat riders led by Doyle will come sweeping past her: “I just think it’s not going to be long before the girls catch up with me now, they’re all so good and the standard has risen so much.”