Hollie Doyle

Although nearly 14 years younger than fellow jockey Hayley Turner, the fact that Hollie Doyle, 25, has been described as the ‘elder stateswoman’ of the weighing room is a reflection of her meteoric rise to the top of her profession. Regardless of age, Doyle has been, far and away, the more industrious, and successful, of the pair in recent seasons and has made a habit of breaking records along the way.

Doyle was still at school when she rode her first winner, The Mongoose, trained by David Evans, in a lady riders’ handicap at Salisbury on May 5, 2013. She subsequently became apprenticed to the Monmouthshire trainer and, later, to Richard Hannon, eventually riding out her claim in November, 2017. On November 21, 2019, Doyle became the third female jockey, after Hayley Turner and Josephine Gordon, to ride 100 winners in a calendar year and finished the campaign with 116 winners, thereby smashing the previous record, 106, set by Gordon in 2017.

Doyle enjoyed another year to remember in 2020, increasing her annual tally to 151 winners and finishing fourth in the Flat Jockeys’ Championship. On June 19, she rode her first Royal Ascot winner, Scarlet Dragon, trained by Alan King, in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, thereby becoming just the third female jockey, after Gay Kelleway and Hayley Turner, to do so. On August 29, she rode an 899/1 five-timer at Windsor, thereby becoming the first female jockey to ride five winners on the same card in Britain. In 2021, Doyle continued in similar vein, increasing her annual tally to 172 winners, including another 2, 521/1 five-timer at Kempton on March 3. With 74 winners to her name already in 2022, it is surely only a matter of time before the ‘Pocket Rocket’ wins the Flat Jockeys’ Championship.