Seven Days: Saffie Osborne Seizes The Day

[Wandering Eyes]

While I don't believe that in this day and age there is a need for an organisation named Women in Racing, I do staunchly believe in women in racing. 

Thankfully, for a good while now, women have at different stages held almost every top job in the sport along with the most important one, which is riding and looking after horses. Anyone at the so-called top, whether male or female, should have had plenty of experience of mucking out before they are allowed to go anywhere near a boardroom table. 

Ultimately the thing that matters most in this industry is hard work. Nobody should be rewarded simply for their gender. And when that hard work is coupled with talent, as it so plainly is in the case of Saffie Osborne, then it is a cause for celebration.

Osborne rightly deserved her place on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph for becoming the first woman to ride a Classic winner in Britain – this historic moment made all the more special for it being in the 250th anniversary of the St Leger, the world's oldest Classic. It is only a shame that more publications and news outlets didn't follow suit, but such is the increasing negligence of national sports editors when it comes to the second-most attended sport in Britain.

Osborne is a role model, for sure, and should be celebrated perhaps more so for the fact that the next morning, on a Sunday, she was riding out for Richard Spencer and juggling media interviews before race-riding again at Doncaster that afternoon.

This, bar the interviews, is just par for the course for most jockeys, many of them putting in the kind of long hours that would make their contemporaries in other walks of life recoil in horror. This is all done in the hope that riding out in the morning converts to more rides in the afternoon, at whatever far-flung corner of the country that happens to be.

There is little doubt that Osborne has earned her elevated status. Yes, her father, Jamie, is a trainer and former jockey, but she long ago advanced past riding for her home stable to the position in which she now finds herself, being booked by Joseph O'Brien, arguably the most upwardly mobile young trainer in the world, for a ride in a Classic.

She now sits in eighth place in the jockeys' championship in Britain. Her closest female rival is Joanna Mason (41st), while Hollie Doyle would have been much farther up the table but for a season-ending injury on May 22.

Despite the fact that horseracing and other equestrian sports remain rare in that women and men compete against each other on equal terms, there is plainly still room for more female jockeys to come to the fore – and they are out there. Gina Mangan, Lauren Young, Myla Coppins, Taryn Langley, Millie Wonnacott, and Grace McEntee are all in the top 100 in the UK at this stage of the season, but that's still only 10 per cent of the jockeys overall.

In her pomp, Rachael Blackmore appeared to make a point of playing down the fact that she is female, preferring simply to be regarded as a successful jockey. That is understandable, but there is no getting away from the fact that she fulfilled every young horsey girl's dream in becoming the first real-life Velvet Brown when winning the Grand National in 2021.

Osborne's stand-and-deliver victory aboard Highwayman makes her the latest 'first woman' in the sport, her Classic heroics ensuring that her name will rightly be etched in the history books. She will also be aware that she follows in the ground-breaking footsteps of some notable other 'first ladies', whose names are worth repeating here for the record:

Meriel Tufnell MBE: in 1972, riding Scorched Earth, became the first woman to win a race under Jockey Club Rules.

Gay Kelleway: in 1986 was the first woman to ride in a British Classic; a year later she was the first female jockey to win at Royal Ascot, on Sprowston Boy in the Queen Alexandra Stakes.

Maree Lyndon: in 1987 became the first female to win a Group 1 race in Australia, riding Lord Reims to victory in the Adelaide Cup.

Julie Krone: in 1993 became the first woman to win a leg of the US Triple Crown, taking the Belmont with Colonial Affair, and in 2003 was the first to win a Breeders' Cup race aboard Halfbridled in the Juvenile Fillies.

Alex Greaves: in 1996 became the first woman to ride in the Derby and a year later the first to win a Group 1 in Britain when Ya Malak dead-heated for first in the Nunthorpe Stakes. 

Hayley Turner OBE: became joint-champion apprentice in 2005 and, in 2008, was the first female to ride 100 winners in a calendar year in Britain. She was also the first outright female winner of a Group 1 in Britain in the 2011 July Cup aboard Dream Ahead.

Lisa Cropp: in 2005 was the first woman to be crowned champion jockey in New Zealand, a title she won three years in a row.

Nina Carberry MEP: in 2006 became the first female National Hunt jockey to win a Grade 1 when partnering Leading Run to win the Champion Bumper at Punchestown.

Clare Lindop: in 2007 became the the first female jockey to win the G1 Victoria Derby on Rebel Raider; she had already registered another notable first when becoming the first woman to be champion jockey in Adelaide.

Michelle Payne: in 2015 partnered Prince Of Penzance to become the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup. 

Lizzie Kelly: on Boxing Day 2015 was the first woman to win a National Hunt Grade 1 race in Britain aboard Tea For Two.

Hollie Doyle: in 2022 was the first female to ride a European Group 1 Classic winner when Nashwa won the Prix de Diane.

Rachael Blackmore: in 2021, with Minella Times, became the first woman to win the Grand National; a year later she was the first to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, riding A Plus Tard.

Rachel King: in 2025 the British-born rider became the first female jockey to win a Grade 1 race in Japan.

Nina Baltromei: in 2025 was the first woman to ride the winner of the Deutsches Derby aboard Hochkonig.

Seina Imamura: in 2026 won the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Juryoku Pierrot, becoming the first Japanese female jockey to win a Classic or a Grade 1 race on the JRA circuit.

This is by no means an exhaustive list – and apologies for any glaring omissions.  It is also, unquestionably, a list which will grow and grow for as long as horseracing remains a thriving sport. It's up to all of us, of all genders, to ensure that continues, and that will be better achieved by working collaboratively and inclusively. 

Let's not forget the trainers

This has also been the year in which Cherie DeVaux became the first woman to train the winner of the Kentucky Derby, three years after Jena Antonucci became the first female trainer of an American Triple Crown race when Arcangelo won the Belmont Stakes. Criquette Head has long been a trailblazer for female trainers, having become the first to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1979, along with umpteen Classic wins in France and Britain.

Over the weekend there were some other laudable training achievements by women in Ireland and France. Jessica Harrington, who, like Saffie Osborne, started her career with horses as a decorated event rider, is no stranger to success at the top level, with with Flat or National Hunt horses. However, she and her daughter, assistant trainer Kate, may well not have been expecting to carry home the trophy for the G1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes when saddling the 50/1 shot Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot). This likeable four-year-old may have been an outsider who beat fellow outsider Wimbledon Hawkeye (Kameko) by a nose, but he has done more than enough to guarantee a future stud career. He beat Delacroix at two to win the G1 Futurity Trophy – his third Group win as a juvenile – and claimed another top-level win in July in the G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis in Munich. 

He and Fallen Angel, who was third when attempting to defend her crown in the G1 Matron Stakes on Saturday, were the first two major winners for Too Darn Hot. Interestingly, they are both inbred to Delsy (Abdos), the dam of Darshaan and of Too Darn Hot's third dam Darara. That repetition of Marcel Boussac's superior mare is found again in Title Role, another of the Too Darn Hot's eight Group/Grade 1 winners, who won this year's G1 Belmont Derby and G2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen, and whose granddam Victoria Cross (Mark Of Esteem) has been a stalwart for Hascombe & Valiant Studs.

Great Scott

It is also worth noting a breakthrough Group win in France for Katie Scott, who represented Scotland as a show jumper and now trains a small string of around 20 horses at Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. Her year has been highlighted by Naana's Shadow, a three-year-old filly by Havana Grey who has taken the trainer and the owners in Summerstorm Bloodstock to hitherto unimagined places since her purchase from the Tattersalls Online Sale last November for 20,000gns.

 

Katie Scott, left, and Abby Robertson with Naana's Shadow | Scoop Dyga

 

Naana's Shadow had won for Alice Haynes just prior to the sale and has gone on to score for Scott at Catterick, Epsom (on Derby day), York, Glorious Goodwood, and now in the G3 Prix du Petit Couvert at Longchamp. The next dream for Scott, who rides Naana's Shadow every day, is to return to Paris on Arc weekend for the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye.

Singing the Blues

In 2023, Too Darn Hot was shaded only by his own stud-mate Blue Point in the first-season sires' championship of Britain and Ireland. Blue Point had a significant numerical advantage that year in that he had 94 runners, with Soldier's Call the closest to that on 66, while Inns Of Court had 65 and Too Darn Hot 61. Study Of Man, who had only 20 first-crop two-year-old runners, held the advantage over all of that intake with five per cent black-type winners to runners, with Too Darn Hot again being second by that metric. 

Rosallion, Big Evs and Kind Of Blue were the stars of Blue Point's first crop and, after a quieter spell in the stakes arena, he is enjoying something of a revival this season. 

The undisputed queen of Blue Point's second crop is Blue Bolt, whose prowess has truly come to the fore this summer with consecutive Group 1 wins in the Falmouth Stakes, Prix Rothschild and Matron Stakes following her G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes victory at Royal Ascot.

She's not the only star, however. The G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Samangan and Sunday's G1 National Stakes winner Folsom Blues, both of whom are out of mares by Oasis Dream – as is Big Evs and Group 2 winner Elmonjed – have kept the ball rolling for the younger crops, with Folsom Blues sealing a top-level double for his sire at the Irish Champions Festival. 

It should also be noted that Blue Point's contemporary in the stud ranks and fellow Shamardal-line sire, Phoenix of Spain, enjoyed a decent week with stakes winners in Britain and America. His top-notcher Caballo De Mar is developing into a stayer of note and added the G2 Doncaster Cup to his victory over Santorini Star in the G1 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at Longchamp in May. Then there was the hardy Haatem, who claimed his sixth victory in the G3 Mint Millions at Kentucky Downs last Monday.

Ton up for Appleby

When Al Hudaiba (Dark Angel) won the G1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday she not only secured the first half of a Grade 1 double for Charlie Appleby but also brought up his 100th Group/Grade 1 win since becoming a licensed trainer for Godolphin in July 2013. A little over an hour later the tally jumped to 101 thanks to the dependable Notable Speech (Dubawi), who claimed his seventh top-level win in the Woodbine Mile. 

These came on the back of a domestic resurgence for Appleby, who has been knocking in winners at a rate of 44 per cent over the last fortnight, including two highly impressive juveniles in Desert Castle (Frankel), winner of the G2 Champagne Stakes, and Musical Times (Lope De Vega), who streaked away with the G2 May Hill Stakes. For good measure, the five-year-old Arabian Crown (Dubawi) landed a blow on Irish Champions weekend in the G3 Kilternan Stakes. 

Champion Sprinter honours up for grabs

The G1 Champion Sprint Stakes at Ascot next month could well determine which of two four-year-old colts will be crowned champion sprinter this year. For  

the Donnacha O'Brien-trained Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett) and William Haggas's Almeraq (Dark Angel) it is two Group 1 wins apiece this season, the former in the July Cup and when dropping back in distance for Sunday's Flying Five Stakes, while Almeraq has remained solely at six furlongs, with his five wins including the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes and the Haydock Sprint Cup. 

In one sense, Almeraq would be a very deserving champion having overcome a terrifying mid-race fall at York a year ago which ended the career of his jockey Jim Crowley. The Shadwell homebred is out of a mare by Muhaarar, who completed his successful career with victory in the same race on British Champions Day back in 2015. Muhaarar has not done quite what might reasonably have been expected of him at stud, but he is a decent sire nonetheless, with two of his best offspring being the fellow Champions Day winners Eshaada and Cicero's Gift. 

As a broodmare sire, Almeraq is his finest achievement to date, but Muhaarar has also popped up as damsire of this year's Chesham Stakes winner Nola Soul (Justify) as well as recent G1 Grosser Preis von Baden runner-up Parachutiste (Dubawi).

 

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