08 March 2020

Record-breaking jockey Hollie Doyle says she has benefited from being a woman in horse racing

Jockey Hollie Doyle believes she has reaped the rewards of the publicity that came with being a woman in the sport.

Doyle broke the record for the most wins by a female jockey in a year when she won 116 races in 2019.

"It wouldn't annoy me to be referred to as a female jockey, to ride a derby winner would be amazing but it would probably be made a bigger deal of as I'm not a male.  

"I know there were plenty of male jockeys who won 100 + winners last year and didn't get a mention and I did get a lot of publicity and for me that was great because I'm getting recognition.

"I think it would be a shame to drop it [female from 'female jockey'] because it is unique from the outside looking in. It's a tricky one really."

Doyle was speaking at the launch of the JustJockeys campagn which is aiming for equality in the sport by dropping reference to 'female'.

"In the next 10 years or so you'd like to see it all even out [so we can refer to females and males as just jockeys] and everything will be on an even keel but at the moment it's just working towards that so I think it still needs to be mentioned," she added.

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