King and queens: Why this Everest is about the girls more than ever

Perhaps, the measure of a person’s success is when they do extraordinary things that are seemingly ordinary.

Just this week, Rachel King was confirmed to ride a Japanese horse at the Breeders’ Cup meeting in the United States next month. She will forgo rides at either Sydney’s rich Golden Eagle meeting or Derby Day in Melbourne for the unofficial world championships of horse racing in California.

She will be the first Australian resident to ride at the Breeders’ Cup. Think about that: before Johnston, before Cassidy, before Beadman, before Oliver, before Bowman, before McDonald, before all of them. When name “R King″⁣ goes in the Del Mar racebook, history will be made.

“And I had no idea until the media came out with it,” laughs King.

Which is exactly the point: she’s doing extraordinary things which, even to her, are just ordinary.

In the next breath, she is at pains to point out she considers herself as just a jockey. Not a female jockey, just a damn good one overall.

Jockey Rachel King with Lady Of Camelot.Credit: Nick Moir

It’s easy to forget it’s already been nine years since Michelle Payne won the Melbourne Cup on a 100-1 chance and delivered the proverbial middle finger to those – even some of the owners of her horse, Prince Of Penzance – who doubted a woman could do the job,

It’s not often the racing industry holds up a mirror to itself, let alone does some deep introspection, as the walls of left-leaning and free-thinking backbenchers close in on the sport through gambling restrictions and welfare lobbying.

But Saturday should bring optimism.

In The Everest, King will ride filly Lady Of Camelot, prepared by co-trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. No female horse has ever finished in the top three of The Everest in its first seven years, let alone a female jockey come close to winning it. King will be joined by Jamie Kah (Traffic Warden) in the riding ranks, and Lady Of Camelot is one of six female horses in the race, which is half the field, the biggest representation ever in The Everest.

Yeah the girls!

“Most of the group 1s I’ve won now, I’ve been the first female,” King says. “I’ve done it a few times now. But I very much think of myself as just a jockey and not just a female jockey. It’s a great honour to be part of the race. We’re going out there being competitive, and it would mean a lot to win it.”

Between the hundreds of lubricated punters lining the Royal Randwick fence butchering Sweet Caroline, King wants to see a few kids falling in love with the intoxicating aroma of horse racing – boys and girls.

Instead of a McDonald, McEvoy or Moreira as being the ones they idolise, King is now every bit as popular.

Rachel King offers a small smile aboard Knights Order after their Sydney Cup win in 2022, the first female rider to win the race.Credit: Getty

“It’s probably become more apparent the last 12 or 18 months,” she says. “I do get a few messages on social media and at the races, that younger audience coming and approaching you. I love that. I love talking to kids.

“Even when they do pony racing, I want to back it to the hilt. I did it as a kid and I feel like it’s such an important part of the industry to get the young people involved. If you get them involved at an early age, they’re going to get the love for the horses. Same with apprentices.

“I try to spend as much time as I can with them if they want help. It’s something I do enjoy.”

As she walked out of Tulloch Lodge’s stables after trackwork on Thursday, King was ribbed about riding at 51kg – Lady Of Camelot’s weight in The Everest. Most jockeys would need to cut off an arm or a leg to get down that low.

“And I can eat breakfast on Saturday morning,” she laughed.

Who knows if she will be laughing shortly after 4pm at Royal Randwick, where history beckons in The Everest. She could do something extraordinary, and given everything she’s achieved in the past couple of years, riding at Royal Ascot and in Japan and soon to be at the Breeders’ Cup, it won’t be anything out of the ordinary.

“She certainly is [an outstanding jockey],” Waterhouse says. “She’s very capable and one of the jockeys that naturally ride a light weight. She has complete understanding of racing on the speed, which is how a lot of our horses train and race. That’s why we get on so well.”

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