Doyle on the boil, Latest Racing News - The New Paper
Racing

Doyle on the boil

She's the first woman jockey to win the Group 1 Goodwood Cup

Hollie Doyle added to an already landmark year for women riders in horse racing by becoming the first female jockey to win the Goodwood Cup in England on Tuesday, as part of her remarkable 123-1 treble.

The 24-year-old won aboard Trueshan, the 6-5 favourite following the withdrawal of Stradivarius from the 3,200m race on the first day of "Glorious Goodwood", one of the showpiece meetings of the English flat season, following heavy rain on the Sussex course.

The five-year-old moved into the lead early in the home straight on the southern track, seeing off 33-1 shot Away He Goes by just under four lengths.

Victory in a race first run in 1808 gave Doyle her second Group 1 winner and was a first on the flat for trainer Alan King, best known as a jumps specialist. Sir Ron Priestley, a 9-2 shot, finished third, 11/2 lengths away.

Doyle then completed her longshot treble with wins in the next two races on Lord Riddiford and Sisters In The Sky.

Trueshan helped Doyle to a double on Champions Day at Ascot last October, winning the Long Distance Cup before she rode Glen Shiel to victory in the British Champions Sprint Stakes for her maiden Group 1 success.

"These are the days you do it for," Doyle told reporters after Tuesday's win. "He's been in my mind every day since Champions Day - when we can get back together."

Stradivarius claimed a record fourth straight win at last year's festival under Frankie Dettori but was withdrawn Tuesday as soft going was against the three-time Gold Cup winner.

"It's just a great shame that the ground has gone so much in the last two days," trainer John Gosden told Racing TV.

In April, then 31-year-old Irish jockey Rachael Blackmore became the first female winner of the Grand National, English jumping's most famous race, aboard Minella Times over the demanding fences at the 6.9 km course in Aintree, Liverpool.

That success came just weeks after Blackmore was the first woman to ride a winner of another of English jumping's "crown jewels", the Champion Hurdle when she partnered Honeysuckle to victory at the Cheltenham Festival. - AFP

HORSE RACING