Geraldine McKay is General Manager of Carlisle Racecourse which recently hosted the ‘Ultimate Ladies’ Night’, the world’s only race meeting exclusively for female jockeys. At this event every horse in every race is ridden by a woman. More than 6,000 spectators attended the seven-race fixture which produced some thrilling finishes and ended with Hayley Turner, the UK’s top female jockey, becoming the inaugural winner of the Durdar Trophy for the most successful rider of the evening.
“…Like many racecourses across the UK, we have held an annual ‘Ladies Day’ for several years, which had included a ladies-only race but we really wanted to add another dimension to this event, by making it a truly female-led event…”
The only all women jockeys fixture in the world
Ultimate Ladies’ Night 2014 was held in Carlisle on Monday August 4th. It is always the first Monday in August. It is the only race meeting in the world in which all the jockeys competing must be female. This is the fourth year and it was a decision driven by the track and backed by the Jockey Club, which owns Carlisle Racecourse.
Like many racecourses across the UK, we have held an annual ‘Ladies Day’ for several years, which had included a ladies-only race but we really wanted to add another dimension to this event, by making it a truly female-led event. The logical extension was to go or a women-only jockeys fixture – the first in the world.
Supported by the world’s best female jockeys
Hayley Turner, the UK’s most prominent female jockey, attended the event for the first time this year. She had one winner. In fact, the seven races produced six different winning jockeys, which demonstrates the spread of talent nowadays and the number of really good female riders there are competing.
Anna Hesketh was the only rider to win more than one race. A local Cumbrian-based professional rider called Emma Sayer also had a winner and two seconds. It was a great turnout of jockeys, from all over the UK and abroad.
Christina Buesa, from Spain, won the evening’s first race in what was her first race in the UK. The win put her joint top of the Lingines World Fegentri Championship for international women riders. Christina told me afterwards, “I’m very happy to win, especially on such a wonderful night for women jockeys. It is brilliant that Carlisle has a meeting like this.”
Making a difference to the opportunities for women in racing
It’s an opportunity for women to participate in races here, who perhaps wouldn’t get up here otherwise. Carlisle is a long way from Newmarket where many of the riders are based, including Hayley Turner. As a one-off challenge, it also creates the only full race-card when you will be competing against a rider of similar physiology every time. Hayley was very impressed and supportive, saying, “This is a fantastic meeting – and so competitive. All the girls are having a great time. It’s a beautiful course and I can’t fault it at all.”
Growing media interest in women’s sport
We had a super level of support for this event, with a great deal of interest from the media. Not just locally but nationally. Sky TV ran previews and Channel 4’s The Morning Line programme were here filming. Our regional television channel – ITV Border – was here too, along with local newspapers and magazines and Caroline Robertson, who presents the afternoon show on BBC Radio Cumbria, was a special guest in the parade ring alongside our usual raceday announcer Gordon Brown. It’s a tremendously positive feel-good event!
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