A Kiwi horse paying 100-1 ridden by a women wins the Melbourne Cup. What’s next? Azaria Chamberlain turns up on the checkout at Coles?
Prince of Penzance’s triumph is a stirring, underdog success story made even better by the brave, brash and justified gobful winning jockey Michelle Payne directed at chauvinistic racing types.
Payne is a rebel. Payne is a hero.
The treatment of women in horse racing has been disgraceful. In almost every other equestrian sport, women and men compete against one another on an equal playing field, and in the same competitions. Racing is vastly different.
Australian Wilhelmina Smith was born in 1886 and grew up wanting to be a jockey. However, the authorities had firm restrictions, and women were not permitted to ride. To overcome this limitation, Wilhelmina dressed as a man and called herself Bill, competing incognito for decades. Only when she died in 1975 was her secret revealed.
For almost a century women were banned from racing despite their natural lighter weight being an advantage.
In New Zealand, Linda Jones of Cambridge was a trailblazer. She was the first woman to apply for an apprentice jockey’s licence, in September 1976. It was refused because she was “too old, married and not strong enough”.
Jones appealed and won. She enjoyed 65 winning rides in her career and achieved a stunning number of firsts.
Her list of accolades include:
Being the first women in the southern hemisphere to ride four winners in a day.
The first woman to ride a winner at Ellerslie or Trentham, and the first to compete in the Auckland, Sydney or Wellington Cups.
The first woman in Australasia, the United Kingdom, Europe or North America to ride a Derby winner (Holy Toledo in the Wellington Derby).
The first woman to ride a winner against male professionals at a registered meeting in Australia (riding Pay The Purple to victory on May 7, 1979, in Brisbane).
The first woman in racing to be awarded the MBE for her achievements in the sport.
Dianne Moseley was the first female jockey to win a Group 1 race in Australia when she won the Fourex Cup on Double You Em in 1982.
Maree Lyndon became the first woman jockey to win a major Cup race when she rode Lord Reims to victory in the Adelaide Cup in 1987.
Despite these noteworthy achievements the business has remained largely a male’s domain, and at times worryingly discriminatory.
For proof, try watching the 2003 documentary A Girl, A Horse, A Dream. It tracks the attempt of Bernadette Cooper to try and crack the racing business in Australia, and makes for harrowing viewing, especially when she talks about her dressing room encounters with male competitors.
The program reveals just how much stronger and better a women has to be, just to get a look in.
Only four women have ridden the Melbourne Cup, Payne rode previously in 2009, but despite this some big fishes objected to her presence. Women have had a 25 per cent success rate of winning the race now!
There are some outstanding riders in Australia today.
According to femalejockeys.com.au, Clare Lindop has had 3324 rides and has come first in 408 rides, second in 385 rides and third in 366 rides for a place percentage of 34.9 per cent.
Chloe Chatfield, to date, has had 1253 rides; come first in 120, second in 117, and third in 126. This gives Chatfield a place percentage of 29 per cent.
Michelle Payne’s win in the Melbourne Cup proves women riders aren’t the problem.
Hopefully her victory paves the way for even greater progress in a sport that has often lagged behind the times.
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