She’s in it to win it
Katie Walsh tells Laura Silverman what it’s like to be the most successful female jockey in Grand National history – and why racing will always be dominated by men
You can’t miss Greenhills stables in County Kildare, Ireland. Guarding the drive is a statue of a jockey in a yellow and green jersey, the Walshes’ racing colours. The casual visitor to the home of Ted Walsh, the amateur jockey turned racehorse trainer, will meet dozens of horses before they even get to the yard: from a horse on wheels in the kitchen (a favourite toy of Ted and Helen’s grandchildren); to a painting of Ruby, their eldest son, on Papillon, in the lounge (after horse and rider won the Grand National in 2000). The entire Walsh family live and breathe racing. I am spending the day with Katie Walsh, Ruby’s younger sister and the most successful female jockey in Grand National history. Katie and Seabass came third at Aintree in 2012. This year she has been appointed “style ambassador” to the National to add a bit of class to the event. Women are being encouraged to dress up on Ladies’ Day in a style more in line with Ascot (wearing ridiculously expensive, and occasionally ridiculous, hats) than drunken WAGs in short skirts and one shoe. While racing folk might be more used to seeing her in jodhpurs or spattered in mud (in the Spencer Murphy postrace portrait that won the Taylor Wessing prize), Walsh, 30, insists she loves fashion. “Oh yeah, I’m big into it,” she says, swaddled in a bubblegum-pink puffer jacket. “It’s very important for me to work in the yard every day and be feminine when I come in. I’ve got a lot of friends who I like going out with for a few drinks. If they came here and we were going out, you wouldn’t say that I’m the one who worked with horses.” But things are not quite so straightforward on the course. The Grand National has only allowed women riders since 1977 and there are still far more male than female jockeys. Walsh may not have been put off from racing because she’s a woman, but certain comments suggest gender plays a part in opportunities for female riders and their success. Walsh says she has never faced discrimination from male competitors. “In racing no one gets big in their boots. It doesn’t happen because you’re only as good as your last winner. We could both go down at a fence; he could fall and I could stand up. That doesn’t make him worse than me or better; it’s just what happens on the day. Racing’s a great leveller. You could ride a winner the first time and go out again and have an absolutely terrible ride. You can be brilliant one minute and awful the next. That’s the way the sport is. “When I go out,” she adds, “I’m not looking for room. I’m not looking for someone to be nice to me. We’re all fighting for the same prize.” And yet Walsh is conscious that being a woman affects how onlookers – whether that’s racegoers or trainers – see her. “You want to look like a man when you’re on the racecourse,” she says. “Sometimes people can look at a race and go, ‘There’s a girl.’ You can spot them; obviously we’re a different shape. You want to look like one of them when you’re out there.” Her views on whether there should be more female jockeys are likely to enrage feminists. “There are a lot of women on the flat,” says Walsh. “But in National Hunt racing, it’s hard. It’s a tough sport. It’s very, very