Racing revolution: Jamie Kah, Rachel King leading charge for new wave of female jockeys
Female jockeys have smashed through racing’s glass ceiling in numbers and Hall of Fame hoop Glen Boss believes the rise of top women riders can take the sport to a new level.
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From the old-fashioned boys’ club to a modern-day transformation in gender equality — welcome to horse racing’s revolution.
Female jockeys have smashed through racing’s glass ceiling in numbers, commanding rides from the nation’s biggest stables, with their success in recent years earning the respect of those fickle, hard-to-please punters.
The jockey premiership standings in each state and territory reflect the rise and rise of women riders.
Jamie Kah leads the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership, Jessica Eaton is in front in Adelaide, Rachel King is the top five in Sydney, with female riders are nestled in the top 10 rankings in every major racing centre around the nation.
It wasn’t always like this.
Hall Of Famer Robert Thompson, the most winningest jockey in Australian racing history with more 4500 wins, remembers the days, not so long ago when women riders were very much on the outer.
“It was very tough for the women jockeys when they first started riding back in the 1970s,’’ Thompson said. “There were no facilities for women on many racetracks around NSW and some clubs had to bring in caravans for them on raceday.
“I remember some tracks had to use tents as the ladies’ jockeys room. The sport has come a long way since those days.’’
Thompson, 61, who is still riding successfully and has no immediate plans to retire, admitted there once was a perception that women jockeys lacked the strength and riding ability of their male counterparts.
But he said that has been replaced over the years by an acceptance and admiration of the skills and bravery of female jockeys.
“These days, if a woman is riding a horse with a good winning chance, they can win on them, don’t worry about that,’’ Thompson said.
“I’ve also noticed there are more women coming through the ranks now. There are lot more girls becoming apprentice riders than boys, particularly in country racing.’’
Racing NSW statistics prove Thompson correct. There are 132 licensed jockeys in NSW, with the number of women riders at 29 and increasing.
This is particularly evident in the junior riding ranks, with females numbering 29 of the 46 licensed apprentice jockeys.
Racing revolution aside, Kah and her colleagues are 100 per cent focused on the job at hand, wanting to be seen simply as jockeys, rather than female jockeys.
“I’m funny on the subject of women in racing — people still think there’s such a bias, that there’s sexism in the sport, but if you’re good you’ll get rides, it doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female,” Kah said last year.
Champion jockey Glen Boss, also a member of racing’s Hall of Fame, said recently the success female jockeys should be promoted because they are doing so well.
“Women can help take the sport to another level,’’ Boss said. “They can open up a big audience for us.
“I think the girls have really come along in the last five years. People used to say they were too weak and it’s the biggest load of bullshit of all time.
“The women ride stacks of winners because they’re quiet on them and go with them. That’s how you get the most out of a horse, you don’t interrupt their stride.
“I really encourage the girls and I know that punters are really in their corner now.’’
TAB spokesman Andrew Georgiou confirmed there is no real evidence of punter bias against female riders.
“The majority of punters don’t seem to mind if a female jockey is riding their horse or not – they just want someone that can get the job done,’’ Georgiou said.
“Jamie Kah has had a strong start to the season in Victoria and is leading the metropolitan premiership. Our customers have been all over her rides on a number of occasions in recent weeks and have benefited handsomely.
“A recent example of that was All Banter at Moonee Valley about three weeks ago. It was sensationally backed and Jamie rode a tremendous race to land the cash and a big blow to bookies, too.
“Rachel King is another. She has a pretty big following and our customers weren’t afraid to unload on Invictus Salute at Rosehill recently, it was a massive plunge late on the mare.
“Invictus Salute won and gave Rachel the last leg of a winning quartet for the jockey.’’
Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel has been officiating at Sydney race meetings for more than three decades and, like Thompson, remembers the days when the riding ranks were a male bastion.
“When I started in 1989 there wasn’t a female jockey riding consistently in the metropolitan area,’’ Van Gestel said.
“Lisa Cropp was the first to come along and I remember when she was riding at Randwick she would sit in a little room out the front about 4sqm with just enough room for a shower and toilet, and that was about it.
“The facilities were even more primitive in the bush that but was more to do with the numbers of female jockeys rather than any gender inequality.’’
Van Gestel believes the evolution of female jockeys is in keeping with modern society and the expectation and acceptance of gender balance and equality.
“Men are not as inclined to get involved in horse sports these days but women are coming to racing from show jumping and equestrian backgrounds,’’ Van Gestel said. “But when you look at the success of the likes of Rachel King and Kathy O’Hara in Sydney, and Jamie Kah in Melbourne, it’s hard to argue they are not accepted on an equal basis with the men.’’
Rachel King is enjoying her best-ever season and rode a feature race double at Royal Randwick last Saturday on Greysful Glamour in the Group 2 Villiers Stakes and Athiri in the Listed Razor Sharp Handicap.
Mark Newnham, trainer of Greysful Glamour, was one of the first to identify King’s riding skill when she was still an apprentice. He doesn’t refer to her as a female jockey. “Rachel’s a jockey,’’ he said.
For King, this is the ultimate compliment. “I just want to be thought of as one of the jockeys,’’ she said.
VICTORIA
“It’s such a chauvinistic sport, a lot of owners wanted to kick me off. Everyone else can get stuffed (who) think women aren’t good enough.”
The statement reverberated around the world in 2015 after Michelle Payne became the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup.
Her words stung egos, and rightly so, but the actions, winning Australian racing’s Holy Grail, would be a catalyst for a far more enduring legacy: Belief.
It could be done. A woman could actually win the Melbourne Cup.
Five years on from the Payne game-changer we have Jamie Kah, who moved from South Australia to Victoria last year, holding an eight-win lead in the Melbourne premiership.
The emergence of Kah, who dominated SA racing previously, and boom apprentice Madison Lloyd, equal fourth in Victoria with 36 winners, are products of the generational change.
Fifteen years ago one in 10 licenced Victoria jockeys was female.
Today, women account for a quarter of the state’s riding ranks.
Victoria has been at the forefront of the changing Australian racing landscape, with a host of top-flight jockeys, including Group 1 winners Payne, Linda Meech and Katie Mallyon, as torchbearers, along with Nikita Beriman and Christine Puls among others.
Fourth generation jockey Mallyon, the first female to win the Victorian Apprentice title in 2011/12, retired in 2018 after eight years in the saddle.
“The main thing is that women are now accepted as jockeys, instead of ‘female’ or ‘lady rider’ by trainers and owners, being able to get the job done as the men,” Mallyon said.
“I feel the change has come about through better education in apprentice schools and also young trainers that are a bit more willing to accept girls as equals.
“Having the likes of Nikita Beriman, Clare Lindop and Michelle Payne, who have all been ground breakers for up and coming jockeys, has shown given the opportunity they could succeed.”
The new breed is just as talented, too, and hungry.
Racing Victoria’s Apprentice Jockey Training Program last year included rising stars Laura Lafferty, Celine Gaudry and Carleen Hefel, while four budding female riders and one man make up the class of 2020.
Alf Matthews, the champion jockey turned RV Apprentice coach, expects more and more women to enter the riding ranks in years to come.
“It’s not 50-50 on a racetrack yet but it is 50-50, maybe leaning towards females, in the development stage,” Matthews said. “It’s only a matter of time before it will be 50-50 (on a racetrack).” — GILBERT GARDINER
QUEENSLAND
Australia’s first female jockey admits she still gets annoyed when she hears the term ‘female jockeys.’
Iconic Queenslander Pam O’Neill, now 75 and a great-grandmother, famously campaigned for a decade to be given the right to ride alongside her male colleagues.
The trailblazer was finally granted a licence in 1979, at the age of 34, and became the country’s first female jockey when she rode a treble at the Gold Coast, the first of more than 400 winners which included a brief stint riding in Japan.
More than four decades on from her riding debut, O’Neill believes the future for women in racing is bright.
“But it does still annoy me when I hear people talk about ‘female jockeys’,” O’Neill says.
“You don’t go hearing people talking about ‘male’ jockeys. They are all jockeys.
“The key to a lot of them being successful is when they go out there and ride, you have to be an equal and not ask for any favours.
“You are in a male-dominated sport, you can’t afford to think you are any better or any worse than the men you are riding against.
“If it is dished out to you, you have to dish it back.
“But then, when you get off a horse, you should conduct yourself like a female, not a male.”
Asked which female Queensland jockey she has enjoyed watching ride the most in recent times, O’Neill is quick to reply: “Tegan Harrison.”
Earlier this decade Harrison became the first female to win back-to-back Brisbane apprentice titles and also won the Group 2 Victory Stakes on Temple Of Boom, a horse she finished runner-up on in both the Doomben 10,000 and Stradbroke Handicap at Group 1 level.
Harrison hasn’t enjoyed the same riding success since but there is currently a new wave of female jockeys riding the wave in Brisbane.
Ex-Victorian Stephanie Thornton finished fifth in last season’s Brisbane jockeys’ title with 53 winners while newcomer Georgina Cartwright, another ex-Victorian, is enjoying some early success in Queensland.
Cartwright recently became a senior jockey but celebrated the last days of her apprenticeship by winning the Listed Spirit Of Boom Classic on speedy Tony Gollan mare Niedorp.
O’Neill, the secretary of the Queensland Jockeys’ Association, says many of the current jockeys were not even born when the rule permitting female jockeys to ride was introduced in 1979.
“The good thing for women in racing is they are getting paid the same money for their wins as what the males are,” O’Neill says.
“There are still sports where that isn’t the case.”
So what is O’Neill’s advice to up-and-coming female riders?
“Pick out someone you think is a brilliant rider and really study what they do to be successful – it doesn’t matter whether they are male or female,” she says.
“For instance, I think Willie Pike is a sensational rider, you could do a lot worse than take a look at what he does.
“Look at the best, study them.
“And never, ever, be afraid to ask for advice.” — BEN DORRIES
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Jessica Eaton made the gutsy call to leave Victoria in search of increased riding opportunities early in the year.
There was one crucial question needing an answer though, did she venture north to Queensland or try her luck in South Australia where she already had some experience?
“The big push for me was knowing SA has been quite supportive towards females and providing opportunities,” Eaton said.
“There are not as many jockeys over here, but it helps with people like Jamie Kah paving the way. Raquel Clark and Clare Lindop have been quite dominant jockeys and have shown they are just as good as the men.”
SA has been a frontrunner in backing female jockeys, led by former champion Lindop. Her record has been an inspiration to women attempting to make a name for themselves in the cutthroat racing game.
Her list of firsts for an Australian female jockey is phenomenal. The first to ride in the Melbourne Cup, first to ride a century of winners in a season, first to win a metropolitan premiership and first to ride a Group 1 winner. And she won the Victoria Derby on Rebel Raider in 2008 before female jockeys were truly accepted by all.
Now it is Kah, a multi premiership winner in Adelaide before taking Melbourne racing by storm, fuelling motivation for the females.
The depth of female riding talent in SA is reflected on the premiership table with nine in the top 20. Eaton is on top with 25 winners for the season with Caitlin Jones in fifth spot.
Jones outride her claim on Saturday on the back a double, having secured her first city treble the previous week.
Kayla Crowther, last year’s premiership runner-up with 103 winners, Sophie Logan, Anna Jordsjo, Teagan Voorham, Eran Boyd, Claudia Lions and Margaret Collett are also in the top 20.
Voorham followed Raquel Clark, the state’s leading jockey in 2018-19 who has been sidelined for 12 months following a fall at Morphettville, from Tasmania last year.
“Raquel has had success here and liked it, I thought it would be a good stepping stone if I could get a gig,” Voorham said. “They give apprentices a go here, whether they are female or male and I have found it to be quite fair.” — WARREN PARTLAND
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