Women in Sports: Horse Racing

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff
  • The first woman jockey was Alicia Meynell of England. She first competed in a four-mile race in York, England, in 1804.
  • In 1934 Mary Hirsch became the first licensed female trainer of thoroughbred race horses.
  • In 1970 Diane Crump became the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, the biggest thoroughbred race of the year.
  • Julie Krone was the first female jockey to ride in the Belmont Stakes, which is part of racing's Triple Crown. She rode in 1991. Krone briefly retired in 1999 from horseracing. She returned in 2003 to win the Breeder’s Cup race, becoming the first female rider to do so.
  • In 2012, Rosie Napravnik, 24, rode Shanghai Bobby and won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile. In doing so, she joined Julie Krone in the small club of female jockeys who have won the Breeders' Cup.

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