International Women’s Day: Grand National-winning trainer Venetia Williams says female jockeys have earned success | Racing News

Grand National-winning trainer Venetia Williams says female jockeys have earned their place at the top level and believes Rachael Blackmore and Hollie Doyle are “streets ahead” of their predecessors.

In 2021, Blackmore made history as the first female to be crowned Leading Rider at the Cheltenham Festival and to win the Grand National at Aintree, while Doyle broke her own record for Flat winners in a single season with a staggering 172 victories.

Last year also saw Bryony Frost add two more Grade One wins to her impressive CV, while Blackmore was also crowned World Sports Star at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

Reflecting on the number of opportunities female riders now get at the top level, Williams told Sky Sports Racing: “They’ve earned it, they are so much better.

“There are so many more aids now, including every race being recorded and the mechanical equicizer.

“The girls are doing fantastically well and are streets ahead of where we ever were.”

Williams, who became just the second female trainer to win the National in 2009 with 100/1 outsider Mon Mome, added: “When we won the Grand National it was the most amazing day but the last thing on your mind is that you’ve emulated Jenny Pitman.

“Every jumps trainer I would imagine would have their eye on that race to win at some point in their career.

“As a trainer it’s not a physical thing, we’re not riding the horses, so the male-female thing is really not relevant.

“In the early days there was probably a novelty element of being a female and I’m sure I got more publicity, probably unwarranted, because I was female.”

‘I got so much attention anytime I did anything good’

Gee Bradburne (nee Armytage) enjoyed the spotlight placed on her at the 1987 Cheltenham Festival, where she became the first professional female rider to win a race at the famous meeting.

Gee-A’s victory in the Mildmay Of Flete Challenge Cup (now the Paddy Power Plate), followed up The Ellier’s win in the Kim Muir to give Bradburne a memorable double.

“I was 22-years-old without a care in the world and absolutely on a roll,” Bradburne recalled to Sky Sports Racing.

“I’d gone to Cheltenham with five rides which was a big thing in itself in those days. It’s pathetic now when you think what Rachael Blackmore and the likes do.

“I’d already been lucky enough to ride the winner of the amateur race with a wonderful horse called The Ellier.

“It was just at that stage when everything was going right and everything I got on turned to gold.

“The crowd loved it because they’d seen me over all of the front pages of the glossy magazines. I always say it helped me being a female rider because I got so much attention anytime I did anything good.

“People just loved the story and loved something different.”

‘Blackmore, Doyle inspiring the next generation’

Blackmore’s Grand National victory last year catapulted her onto the front pages of the national newspapers and ensured her status as a household name.

Speaking to Sky Sports Racing on International Women’s Day, chair of Women In Racing Tallulah Lewis said: “I think we all needed it last year. I was hoarse yelling her [Blackmore] home!

“Also seeing what Hollie [Doyle] has been doing, having those women out there that we can just cheer on in their careers is fantastic.

“All of these women going out there doing these great things is only inspirational for everyone else wanting to achieve their goals.”

Women In Racing aims to introduce more women to racing through its mentoring programme and bursary scheme.

“What’s great is that we have now positioned ourselves as the go-to organisation for women looking to progress their careers,” Lewis said.

“We have a really established mentoring programme, an established bursary scheme and we are only seeing more and more women across the sport being put into prominent positions across the sport so that’s really great.

“We are looking to support everybody, if it’s in a trainer’s yard or a corporate scene and we are really proud of how far we’ve come and how far the industry has come in supporting those goals.”