10 July 2020

Jockey Lizzie Kelly talks about the thrill of making history, the sadness of retiring from the sport she loves, but the joy of impending motherhood

History-making jockey Lizzie Kelly brought down the curtain on one phase of an already incredible career with yesterday’s announcement of her retirement, but is in no doubt there are many acts to follow.

And the first of those is her impending motherhood, as she and husband Ed Partridge look forward to the birth of their first child.

In her first interview since she hung up her reins, Kelly, 27, spoke to NewsChain  about her the joy at expecting a baby and the sadness of having to walk away from something she loves - swapping Grade One winners for middle of the night feeds.

“I think it’s quite a difficult thing to do. It’s sad to have to retire from something you love doing but obviously, personally, it's a good reason to do so,” she said.

“And I would have been forced to do so, you know you can't ride while you are pregnant. Course it’s difficult but I feel it’s probably the right time and I haven’t shut the door on a return. But my focus now is on the next few months of pregnancy.”

And while she has said there’s a slim chance of her returning, the danger element of the sport means racegoers may not see her compete again.

“There’s no getting away from it, it is a dangerous sport and my responsibility and priorities in life will fundamentally change and it's not really something you can do half-hearted.  

"It’s not like other sports where you can go back to being a tennis player or a swimmer because the likelihood you're going to be paralysed in a tennis match is fairly slim. The real hard reality of horse racing is that it’s very dangerous to be a jockey. 

“If I do decide to go back racing, it won’t be in the same way. I won’t be riding young or difficult horses.”

Being a woman in the sport and wanting a family, Kelly knew this moment would arrive.

And while she is sad to leave the weighing room, she couldn’t be more delighted about her 'miracle’ baby.

"I have had an amazing career and I have had highs the majority of the population will never feel and the sacrifice is you have to stop doing it. 

"But I'm more than happy to make that sacrifice. I want to have a family, I’m married and there was a question mark about my husband’s ability to have children because he had a very serious illness a few years ago.

“So in some ways it's a miracle that I fell pregnant and it’s all been very easy. You can’t be a jockey forever and I still have done everything I have done and in a way you never leave the weighing room either. I think it’s somewhere I can walk into, even though I’m not a licensed jockey, and always feel a part of the clan.”

Kelly earned her place in that clan as she not only broke boundaries for other women in the sport, but etched her name in the history books.

She became the first female jockey to ride a Grade One winner over jumps in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Tea For Two in 2015.

She went on to record a second major success on the same  horse at Aintree in the Betway Bowl in 2017.

She also raced two Grade One winners at Cheltenham Festival. The first in 2018 with Coo Star Sivola in the Ultima Handicap Chase and the second a year later on Siruh Du Lac in the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate Handicap Chase.

With all of these achievements to her name, and more it must be difficult to pick the best?

"The highlight probably was the second Grade One at Aintree, the horse that I had a long standing association with, Tea For Two, it was a great day. A lot of the winners are business, you have to go out there and provide the goods, it’s your job at the end of the day to provide people with winning race horses.

“But on that occasion we weren’t expecting him to win and it was an amazing day.”

Lizzie Kelly celebrates winning on Tea For Tea in the Betway Bowl Chase at Aintree (PA)

In her retirement statement, Kelly also said her two winners at Cheltenham were unforgettable - because she could prove to herself the first win wasn’t a fluke.

"I think the fact there were two of them back-to-back, the fact that Cheltenham Festival winners are difficult to come by. A lot of people don’t ride festival winners, you’re in an elite group and I think winning two back-to-back I could prove to myself that it wasn’t a fluke.

“It wasn’t an accident that I ended up winning the first one. And the festival, rightly or wrongly, is held up as the best meeting of jump racing so it was massively important for me to ride a winner there.”

The 27 year-old said she wears the title of being the first female jockey to ride a Grade One jump horse winner with pride.

"I was the first female jockey to do that. That means something in itself and in that circumstance you appreciate the reason it’s remembered is because I’m a woman.

“I’m not the first jockey to win a Grade One, I’m the first female jockey so in that respect no I don’t have a problem with the [female] tag.”

However there have been instances when she is singled out for being a woman in the sport when she would rather be referred to as just a jockey.

"I think every female sportsperson wants to be referred to as just a sportsperson. I tried my best to let my riding do the talking and I think people in the industry will remember me for being tactical or positive over a jump.

"That matters to me more than bickering about being remembered for being a female or not. I got annoyed with it a lot when I was younger because it differentiated me from other people in the weighing room and I wanted to be the same as them.

"Because you try your whole life to be as good as those jockeys in the weighing room and that was really important to me. So when I started I used to get quite upset about the constant reference to being a girl.

“But you get older and wiser and as I got older it didn't bother me as much.”

Kelly doesn’t believe there are any extra hurdles for women trying to get into the sport - she points out, whoever you are, to make it as a jockey is unbelievably difficult.

“I think for every winner a female jockey rides we're creating more and more acceptance of females within the sport,” she said.

"I was very lucky to follow people like Katie Walsh and Lucy Alexander and there are girls who are following me like Bridget Andrews, who has ridden a Cheltenham festival winner, and on the flat you have all of those girls. I think it becomes a viable career option for girls when they see other girls doing it successfully.

"It’s difficult for everyone though, a huge amount of people don’t make it. Just because you're a boy doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to make it. There are lots of people who have come into the sport and retired in my time and I’ve only been here for ten years.

“Lots of people come and go, a tiny percentage of people who get a jockey licence actually make it.”

With the likelihood of becoming a success in the sport so slim, what is the key to Kelly’s triumph?

"A huge amount of luck, having the right connections and I worked and grafted. A lot of people have this perception because I rode for my mum [trainer Jane Williams] and stepdad [trainer Nick Williams] that I didn’t graft, but I did from about the age of 11.

"I worked in loads of different places for experience, worked with loads of different trainers like Henrietta Knight, Chris Gorden, Jamie Snowden and Willie Mullins. I worked for them in my holidays at school and university.  

"I absolutely grafted and I think if you can get your head down and work and muck out a stable and turn up to work when it’s pouring with rain [you’ll succeed]. Persistence is key, I just kept bugging people until they got fed up of saying no.

“And that wasn’t for rides, that was coming in and working for people and getting experience so by the time I was riding against better jockeys than me I had so much experience that I was in a good place mentally that I knew I could do the job.”

Kelly with husband Ed on their wedding day July 2019 (Instagram: Lizzie Kelly)

So what now for Kelly? 

Althouugh she has not shut the door on a return to the weighing room, a career in training looks more likely.

"I think working for those people has given me a good rounded education, primarily in race riding and different ways to do things but as a secondary element to that I gained a huge amount of knowledge about training horses.

“The way I like and didn’t like and my husband comes from a blood stock background, he’s worked in lots of studs. So put us together, we like to think we have a good set of skills to be able to do that [training].”

So, albeit she’s just 27, how would she like the story so far to be remembered?

"No idea! I suppose it depends on the people you’re talking about. By other jockeys I would like to be remembered as someone who was trustworthy and kind. Someone that made the effort to say well done.

“But I think in general you want to be remembered as someone who tried their best and gave as good a ride as they could.”

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