Pride is bruised but Kelly’s tough
LIZZIE KELLY had further to fall at a five- foot fence than most. And the bump on landing was harder in the metaphorical sense than the physical.
All week, she had obliged the radio airwaves, small screen and inky newspapers by smiling and talking on demand. We signed her up as a columnist and she twirled in a red dress.
In short, the first female jockey to ride in the Gold Cup for 33 years had decided to enjoy the journey, no matter what the destination.
Thanks heavens, because that place turned out to be a muddy grassy landing, head first, at the second of 22 fences. The cheekby-jowl crowd had barely looked up from their racecards than the orange silks had tumbled from Tea For Two.
Kelly was up fast, rider and horse fine. She then had the long walk across the turf back to the thronged stands and on to the weighing room. There was time enough to reach that sanctuary before Sizing John climbed the final, lung-busting incline towards glory.
A few minutes later she stared blankly ahead by the door. ‘I’m gutted,’ she told me. ‘An opportunity has gone. A long build-up for not a lot of pizzazz.’
Kelly had always been uneasy being cast as a mould-breaker for her sex. She pointed out that Margeret Thatcher had not gone into politics to become a woman Prime Minister; she had gone into politics to be Prime Minister. That was her template.
But, for all that, she must have hoped to fare better than Linda Sheedy on board 500-1 outsider Foxbury in 1984. Sheedy did not make the finish. Oh, well.
So, what had gone wrong? Kelly had feared Tea For Two, a 40-1 shot whom she describes as ‘quite an angry chap’, might be overwrought by the crowds. The noise of the parade ring might have freaked him out, so he had his earplugs in place.
‘He handled all that side of it really well,’ said Kelly. ‘Thanks to the crowd for that, too. I was signalling to them by putting my fingers to my lips and people responded.
‘The problem was the stride. He was just caught between going long and going short. That’s racing, unfortunately. I live to fight another day.’
Not that long in fact, because Kelly was back in the saddle in the race after next, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle. Chasing redemption on the 13-2 Coo Star Sivola, she led for most of the trip, but was outstripped and finished fourth.
She strode into the weighing room with barely a backward glance, in a let’s-get-the-hell-out-of-here sort of manner. By this point girl power had struck from a different direction: namely Bryony Frost, daughter of 1989 Grand National-winning jockey Jimmy. The 21-year-old, who became a record third female jockey to win in Festival week, triumphed in the Foxhunter Chase. And she did so on the same horse Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton rode last year.
The two women, friends, embraced. ‘It’s so good,’ said Pendleton. ‘I went to see him this morning and gave him a pat and said, “Do well. Come home safe”.’