Female jockey Lizzie Kelly insists gender discrimination is rife in horse racing
Tuesday 24 March 2015 18:27, UK
Jump jockey Lizzie Kelly insists the odds remain stacked against female riders compared to their male counterparts.
Kelly romped to victory on Tea for Two in the prestigious Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton Park a fortnight ago and is in her first year as a conditional jockey, after four years as an amateur.
Estimates suggest 40 per cent of racing fans are women yet just three per cent of jump jockeys are female. And 21—year-old Kelly complained that discrimination against female jockeys remains rife in horse racing.
“I don’t think it’s going to change,” Kelly told Tuesday’s Sportswomen show on Sky Sports News HQ.
“If I was a boy I probably would have got the ball rolling (in my racing career) a lot earlier. A girl has to be exceptional to get the same opportunities as a boy at the moment.”
Malton-based trainer Richard Fahey is convinced some trainers would not contemplate taking on a female jockey and insists attitudes in England are somewhat dated compared to other countries.
“In England it is getting better,” he said.
“But we’re probably five years behind Ireland, 20 years behind America and Canada and in Sweden most of the riders are girls. Girls are lighter as well and they will get more opportunities as time goes on.”
Fahey himself is committed to giving opportunities to female jockeys and regularly hands rides to the first female jockey to win 100 UK Flat races in a calendar year, Hayley Turner.
But Turner, who is also the first British female jockey to record more than 500 career victories, says she has not experienced any discrimination during her 15-year long racing career.
“No, (I haven’t experienced discrimination) and it’s the question I get asked most frequently, to be honest,” said the 32-year-old.
“I think trainers want to use good jockeys and nobody in racing - barring maybe a few owners - have a bias, but if you are good enough they want you to ride their horses.
“They want a good jockey whether you’re male or female.”
