Legacy of the Lipstick Lightning lingers long

Pioneering Charleville race and its place in Queensland riding history.

Female jockeys preparing to ride in the inaugural 1974 Lipstick Lightning at Charleville (left to right) Judy Curran, Glenda Freeman, Cheryl Neal, Joanna Nevell, Pauline Reardon, Arlene Davis, Pam O'Neill and Lyn Baskett.

RACING : At a glance you could easily think the image here at right of an all-female jockey line-up was taken at a Queensland country track last weekend.

But it wasn’t.

It was captured 45 years ago and is a snapshot of a defining moment in Queensland racing history — long before women were able to ride alongside men, let alone be beating them at their “own” game.

The occasion was the running of the inaugural TAA Lipstick Lightning at Charleville in August, 1974.

The eight women lining up for their historic Lightning rides were Judy Curran, Glenda Freeman, Cheryl Neal, Joanna Nevell, Pauline Reardon, Arlene Davis, Pam O’Neill and Lyn Baskett.

The names will be familiar to many for their own reasons, with Pam O’Neill going onto achieve the highest racing profile through her following achievements in the saddle and racing administration.

Her trailblazing deeds included more than 400 race wins after she was finally licensed in 1979 to ride against men.

She was inducted into the Racing Queensland Hall of Fame in 2010.

O’Neill’s ongoing industry involvement includes serving as a director of the Australian Jockeys’ Association.

Her dedication and racing contributions will be honoured during the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival with the running of the inaugural $150,000 The Pam O’Neill — fittingly for fillies and mares – at Doomben on May 16.

The race naming dedication is a long way from Charleville, 1974, with so many huge female riding steps taken along the way.

For the record, the Lipstick Lightning was won by Lyn Baskett aboard Flying Shrapnel, which defeated Lumley’s Pride (Arlene Davis) and Glass Shoe (Pam O’Neill).

Toowoomba trainer Lyn Baskett remembering her winning day as a jockey at Charleville in 1974. Picture: Glen McCullough

Baskett’s riding stint was as brief as O’Neill’s was lengthy.

But she still continues her thoroughbred racing involvement, successfully training a small team in Toowoomba.

Baskett lauds O’Neill’s historic achievements while remembering her own pioneering moment at Charleville all those years ago.

“I started my racing involvement in Tambo back in the late 1960s,” Baskett said.

“My dad Les Jarvis worked on properties and trained horses around the picnic circuit.

“October Day was one of his best horses. It won about 17 races.

“I’d started riding horses when I was about 5 years old, learning to hang on bareback and in saddles without stirrups.

“I won a Queensland campdrafting championship against men and women in 1965 as well as riding race horses.”

But despite her deft riding skills, Baskett said she was literally “thrown into” the Lipstick Lightning spotlight.

“I’d always jumped horses out, but I hadn’t had any official training or passed any tests before my first race ride,” Baskett said.

“But it was one of my most memorable days in racing and a special thing to be a part of.

“In 1975 I moved to Toowoomba and had one more race ride at Dalby where my horse refused to jump and I took no part in the race.

“I didn’t have another ride and moved into training instead, but I admire what Pam O’Neill has done from that time forward.”

Baskett’s successful horses as a trainer include Printing Machine, Irish Leader and Road Show.

Women jockeys continue to go from strength to strength on Australian race tracks with Toowoomba playing a leading role in inspiring generations of female riders.

Lisa Francis, Kristy Banks, Lacey Morrison and Skye Bogenhuber, who is the only female to ride a Weetwood winner and racked up five successive Clifford Park premiership wins, are just a sample of the female talent to make their mark out of Toowoomba.

“Our girls have done well. They are good at what they do and they keep getting better,” Baskett said.

“Pam forced it and made it what it is today for the girls.”

Flying Shrapnel, ridden by Lyn Baskett, races to victory over Lumley's Pride (Arlene Davis) and Glass Shoe in the 1974 Lipstick Lightning at Charleville.