Hayley Turner – The most successful female jockey in history
Horseracing is a competitive sport and it is not easy being a jockey, as it takes a lot of hard work and skill to ride a horse at this level. This is why most of the riders are men, as they are physically stronger than women. However, Hayley Turner is an
exception and she is considered to be the most successful female jockey in the United Kingdom.
Turner’s success at this level has inspired quite a lot of young female riders in the UK and they are also working hard at the amateur level in order to make a name for themselves in the sport.
In June 2012, the young jockey created history by participating in the Investec Derby at Epsom in England. The Group-1 event was quite an important one and it had a cash prize of £751,407 for the winner.
Turner paired up with the Marcus Tregoning’s trainee, Cavaleiro, who was not given a very good starting price by the bookies. The combination did not prove to be a good one, as they finished at the bottom of the table, which was quite disappointing.
Earlier in August 2011, the talented jockey managed to ride Cavaleiro to success, but things were entirely different back then. The pair was given the best odds back then and they took the top spot comfortably by three lengths.
Although, Turner was unable to repeat her success in the Derby, she would have been proud to become only the second female rider to participate in such an event.
Before her race, she commented, "It's obviously nice to have a ride in the big race. I won on him (Cavaleiro) last year then Richard Mullenwon on him when I was injured. He ran in the Lingfield Derby Trial on the all-weather which was probably not ideal
and I'm really pleased to get a ride in the race.”
This was not the only achievement for the British lady, as she also became the first female jockey to ride 100 flat race winners in one year. In 2008, she rode in more than 900 races, which shows that she is fit enough to challenge her opponents.
Turner has only won a couple of Group-1 races in her career, but she has got the ability to achieve a lot more than that. It will be quite difficult for other female jockeys to achieve what she has done in her career until now.
Tags: