Doyle Becomes Britain's All-Time Leading Female Jockey

Hollie Doyle praised Hayley Turner after surpassing her former weighing-room colleague as the winningest female jockey in Britain following her 1,023rd victory on Brindavan at Ascot Racecourse May 10. Doyle, 28, passed 100 winners for the first time in 2019 and reached 1,000 domestic winners in March. She ended that 2019 campaign with 116 winners, passing the previous 100-winner benchmark set in 2008 by Turner, who retired in April alongside announcing she was pregnant. Since reaching 100 winners for the first time, Doyle has passed that mark in each subsequent year, with a personal-best tally of 172 set in 2021. Doyle made her breakthrough at group 1 level in 2020—the same year she was appointed as retained rider for Kuwaiti owner/breeder Imad Alsagar—when steering Glen Shiel (GB) to victory in the British Champions Sprint Stakes (G1). Her other big-race victories include three group 1s on Nashwa (GB), headed by a classic victory in the 2022 Prix de Diane (G1), and two Royal Ascot successes on Bradsell (GB) in the 2023 King's Stand Stakes (G1) and the 2022 Coventry Stakes (G2). Doyle said: "It's a nice milestone to reach and I'm really grateful to all the females before me. "Hayley had it a lot tougher than I did and she's paved the way for people like me to go on and do this, and there's plenty more female riders in the pipeline who will go on to do it. Things are looking good and I'm just grateful it was easier for me than it was for Hayley. "I try to keep my head down and keep things moving forward the whole time. I've no room for slackening off the pace. You have to be really resilient in this sport and everyone has to work hard. You have no choice but to. I'm not an exception." When asked for a career highlight, she said: "My first classic on Nashwa. That was pretty amazing. I've had some big days, but the first classic is always a big one. "My first group 1 on Glen Shiel for Archie (Watson) was also amazing. I've had plenty of good days and hopefully there's more to come. Being a jockey isn't a forever career so you've got to make hay while the sun is shining, and thankfully it's still shining." John and Thady Gosden trained Nashwa to win the Prix de Diane for Doyle and the rider has won more than £1 million in prize money for the operation. Speaking about her achievement, John Gosden said: "She's the most fantastic person. She's got a great character, she's 100% a hard worker and she's a pleasure to be around. She's obviously very competitive, but she does it with style and a smile. There's no better role model. "Her and Tom (Marquand) are beyond the ideal couple. They really are. They're quite extraordinary and if you held them up as an example, other people would say they could never aspire to those heights. They're fantastic." Marquand rode Brindavan at Newmarket last time and also had plenty of praise for his wife's historic landmark. "It's an amazing achievement, especially at her age," he said. "But I don't think it's something Hollie will even have thought about, really. She recognizes the significance of it, but the big picture is finding good horses and group 1 rides. "It's a really nice milestone to hit, but it's not the be-all and end-all. We're all in a privileged position to be doing as well as we are at the moment—hopefully she can rack up enough winners that it's an impossible mission to beat her!" Marquand added: "We had a bit of dinner with Hayley Turner the other night. She was at the forefront of it all, a real trailblazer for girls like Hollie and others coming through, and it's lovely that she's proud of what's coming after her. "That's not a common thing in sport; normally when the next person comes along people don't enjoy it very much." When asked if there would be any extra celebrations, Marquand added: "We're at Newcastle tomorrow and we're not celebrators, we go about our job. We enjoy wins but there's always another ride—that's why she's managed to tick this off so quickly." Alongside her domestic achievements, Doyle made history when becoming the first female jockey to win a leg of the prestigious Hong Kong International Jockeys' Challenge in 2020 and became the first female rider to be given a short-term riding contract by the Japan Racing Association in 2022. Doyle was also named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year in 2020 and finished in third place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.