If you’ve ready pages on this site on Amateur Jockeys or Famous Jockeys, you might well have found yourself wondering where all the women are. We decided that they deserve a page of their own, given the fact that they were forgotten in the horse racing industry for many years. In spite of the fact that the stats show that they are just as good as men, they have regularly struggled to get the same number of rides. A little over 11% of professional riding licences go to women, but over a 14-year period that was studied, they got only 6.5% of the rides on the flat and a mere 2.9% over jumps. Here is a look at some of the standout female jockeys:
Rachael Blackmore
If you want to have a conversation about the best jockeys of all time then Rachael Blackmore’s name would have to be on your list. Her achievements would be impressive even if she wasn’t a woman, but that she was able to win the races that she’s won even whilst her industry systematically ignored talented female jockeys makes her accomplishments all the more impressive. Born on the 11th of July, 1989 in Killenaule, County Tipperary, in Ireland, Blackmore was the daughter of a teacher and a farmer. She grew up on a dairy farm, riding ponies for the first time when she was just two-years-old, taking part in pony club meetings as she grew up.
Whilst riding and competing as an amateur jockey, Blackmore gained a degree in Equine Science at the University of Limerick. Her first winner as an amateur came in 2011, turning professional four years later. Her first ride in the Grand National came in 2018, coming down at the 15th. She rode her first Cheltenham Festival winner in 2019. Ten years after her first winner, Blackmore made history by becoming the first female jockey to win the Grand National in its then 182-year history. That came a month after she was the first women to win the Leading Jockey award in the Cheltenham Festival, then in 2022, she became the first female to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Hollie Doyle
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What Rachael Blackmore is for jump racing, you could argue Hollie Doyle is on the flat. Born on the 11th of October, 1996 she is also a few years younger than Blackmore and could still go on to achieve even more in her chosen discipline. Born into racing stock on account of the fact that her father was a jockey and her mother rode in Arab horse races, Doyle grew up in Herefordshire with point-to-point racers and ponies at home. A member of the Radnorshire & West Herefordshire Pony Club, she rode on her first pony as a nine-year-old and her first ride under rules as an amateur in 2013. She joined the yard of David Evans after taking her GCSEs.
In 2019, Doyle won 116 races, which was a recored for a female jockey in Britain. She enjoyed her first win at Royal Ascot on the back of Scarlet Dragon in 2020 with odds of 33/1. Within a month of that she won the Princess of Wales’s Stakes, handing her her first Group race win. In the years that followed, Doyle won any number of well-known flat races, including the Nassau Stakes, the King’s Stand Stakes and the Falmouth Stakes, working with horses like Glen Sheil, Nashwa and Trueshan. She has also won a number of high-profile races in France, taking home the Prix du Cadran in 2023 and the Prix de Diane and the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp the year before.
Bryony Frost
Born on the 13th of April, 1995 in Buckfastleigh in Devon, Bryony Frost made history in 2019 when she became the first female jockey to win a Grade 1 race during the week of the Cheltenham Festival. It was almost like she broke the glass ceiling, given the success that jockeys such as Rachael Blackmore achieved in the years that followed. Frost comes from a family familiar with racing, given the fact that her father, Jimmy Frost, was a jockey himself who won the Grand National in 1989. He then became a trainer, following in the footsteps of Bryony’s grandfather, Richard. Her brother was also a jockey, who himself won at Cheltenham.
Frost competed on the point-to-point circuit for many years, having year first ride as an amateur under rules in the February of 2013. In 2016, she began riding for Paul Nicholls, winning the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham whilst still riding as an amateur. She made the decision to turn professional in the July of 2017 and in the years that followed she won some big-name races. Arguably the best-known of the event that she has to her name are the Ryanair Chase, which she won in 2019, and the King George VI Chase in 2020. A talented National Hunt jockey, she has worked with horses such as Pacha Du Polder, Secret Investor and Frodon.
Hayley Turner
In 2008, Hayley Turner became the first won to ride 100 winners in flat racing in the United Kingdom during a calendar year. Having been born on the 3rd of January, 1983 and growing up in Nottingham, her success certainly moved to justify her decision to move to Newmarket to base herself for her career. One of six daughters, she initially rode for a trainer local to Nottingham before heading to the Northern Racing College, then she was apprenticed to Michael Bell at Newmarket. Her first race was on the 27th of March 2000, but she didn’t finish it on account of the fact that the horse broke a leg and had to be euthanised.
Her first victory came seven races later when she took Generate to victory at Pontefract. In 2005, she had 44 winners, making her the joint-Champion Jockey, then in the September she ‘rode out her claim’ with her 95th winner, becoming just the fourth woman in Britain to achieve the feat. Having won the likes of the July Cup and the Nunthorpe Stakes, Turner made the decision to retire from racing in 2015 and began working regularly as a pundit for ITV Racing. In 2018, she then decided to come out of retirement, which proved to be a good decision, given the fact that she went on to ride four winners at Royal Ascot.
Katie Walsh
Born on the 18th of December, 1984, Katie Walsh was something of a trailblazer for female jockeys. The daughter of Ted Walsh, who himself was an amateur jump jockey and a trainer, she worked in the industry in the shadow of her brother, Ruby Walsh. Having previously been successful in the discipline of Eventing, she made the decision to turn to jump racing in 2003 and her enjoyed her first winner later that year on the back of Hannon at Gowran Park. It was in 2010 that the industry as a whole began to notice her, thanks in no small part to the fact that she won two races during the Cheltenham Festival, including the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup.
It the industry was paying attention in 2010, it was very much gripped in 2012 when she rode Seabass in her Grand National debut. Trained by her father, Ted Walsh, she took the horse to a third-place finish. That was the best ever finish in the ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’ by a female jockey at the time, only better by Rachael Blackmore when she won it in 2021. Three years later and Walsh won the Irish Grand National, becoming just the third woman to manage it. She also won some Grade 1 races in her career, including the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. She retired after winning the Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in 2018.