Linda Jones MBE | |
---|---|
Full name | Linda Christine Jones |
Occupation | Jockey |
Born | 1952 Auckland, New Zealand |
Career wins | 65 |
Racing awards | |
New Zealand Racing Personality of the Year (1979) | |
Honours | |
New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame (1990) New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame (2010) |
Linda Christine Jones MBE (born 1952) is a New Zealand former thoroughbred horse racing jockey. She was the first woman to be granted a race licence in New Zealand in 1977 and the first in Australasia to achieve four victories in a single day the following year. Jones finished second in the 1978/1979 Jockey Premiership with 18 winners by Christmas 1978. She later became the first woman to ride a Derby winner in each of the Australasia, Europe, and North America continents and the first female to beat professional male entrants at an Australian-registered event. Injury prompted Jones to retire in 1980; she had achieved 65 victories within 18 months. She is an inductee of both the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame.
In 1952, [1] Jones was born in Auckland, New Zealand. [2] She partook in the 1970 Powder Puff Derby as one of eleven jockeys in an era when women were not allowed to be jockeys. [3] Jones was later invited to compete at a meet in Brazil in 1975 and told her husband Alan Jones she wanted to be a jockey. [4] She went on to win the 1975 Qantas International Women's Handicap at Rotorua, [2] and was considered New Zealand's leading female jockey. [5] In September 1976, Jones became the first woman to apply for a apprentice jockey licence with the New Zealand Racing Conference (NZRC). [5] The application was rejected on the grounds of her being "too old, married and not strong enough"; [6] they felt she would claim men's jockey's winnings and would not receive the appropriate dressing rooms. [7] Jones and her husband were prepared to go to court, [6] and she led a campaign for improved equality within the racing industry, for which she received hate mail. [4] The government of New Zealand later passed legislation in the form of the Human Rights Commission Act 1977 banning sexual discrimination. [6] [7] Following heavy pressure from the racing journalist John Costello, the NZRC approved female racing licences in July 1977, [5] and Jones became both the first woman to be granted a New Zealand race licence and the first woman to compete against men in the country. [8] [9]
She was apprenticed to her husband, [8] and required to stay apprenticed until 1982 per New Zealand racing rules with her earnings put into a Racing Conference trust. [10] She began riding professionally on 12 August 1978, [8] at Matamata. [7] Jones achieved her first winner at Te Rapa, [1] and received nationwide attention for becoming the first woman in Australasia to win four times on the same day at a September 1978 meeting at Te Rapa. [3] [4] [6] She was also the first woman in the North Island to claim victory. [4] Jones rode 18 winners by Christmas 1978 and was second in the 1978/1979 Jockey Premiership. [1] [11] She went on to ride Holy Toledo to victory in the 1979 Grade II Wellington Derby that took place that January, [12] becoming the first woman to ride a Derby winner in each of the Australasia, Europe, and North America continents. [5] Jones later became the first woman to ride a winner over professional male entrants at an Australian-registered event when she rode Pay The Purple to a first-place finish at the 1979 Labour Day Cup at Brisbane in May 1979. [5] [8] That year, she sustained two separate injuries by fracturing her rib and puncturing her lung. [10] Jones had achieved 65 victories as a jockey within 18 months. [8]
In March 1980, she sustained a suspected broken pelvis, a fractured vertebrae atop her spine, sprained wrist and concussion in an accident while training at her husband's Cambridge establishment. [13] Jones accepted that she possibly could never fully recover to peak fitness and retired from racing in September 1980. [14] She went into semi-retirement and began training race horses and achieved success with them in Australia in the 1980s. [4] [15]
She and her husband have a daughter who was born in 1977. [16] Jones was appointed MBE in the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours [17] "for her contribution to racing and women's rights". [18]
Jones was listed between 45 and 46 kg (99 and 101 lb). [19] In 1979, she sought not to enter one or two events of a single meeting as she combined her career with a holiday. [19] Jones wrote the autobiography, The Linda Jones Story, in 1979. [20]
She was nominated for the 1978 New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year by the nation's South Pacific Television channel, [21] and received the New Zealand Racing Personality of the Year Award from the Prime Minister Robert Muldoon the following year. [17] In 1990, Jones was added to the sporting category of the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. [1] She was the first woman to be inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in March 2010. [18] [22] In April 2019, a retirement village on Hamilton's River Road was named after Jones in celebration of her sporting achievements. [9]
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100-120 lb., and physically fit. They are typically self-employed and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings.
Julieann Louise Krone, is a retired American jockey. In 1993, she became the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race when she captured the Belmont Stakes aboard nice owen Colonial Affair. In 2000, she became the first woman inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and in 2003 became the first female jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race. She has also been honored by induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame and Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
The racing of Thoroughbred horses is a popular gaming and spectator sport and industry in New Zealand.
The New Zealand Open is the premier men's golf tournament in New Zealand. It has been a regular fixture on the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament schedule since the 1970s. The 2019 event was the 100th edition of the tournament. Since 2014 it has been held as a pro-am in February or March.
Sunline was a champion New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was the world's highest earning race mare of her time. She won 32 of her 48 races with earnings of NZ$14,200,000. She was named the New Zealand Horse of the Year four times and Australian Horse of the Year three times. She has won the most Group races in modern times with 27, and she previously held the New Zealand record of 13 Group One wins until Melody Belle surpassed her in 2021.
The New Zealand PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Jack Newton OAM was an Australian professional golfer. He won the Buick-Goodwrench Open on the PGA Tour and won three times on the European Tour, including the British PGA Matchplay Championship in 1974. He won the Australia Open in 1979 and a number of other tournaments in Australia, New Zealand and Africa. Twice, he was a runner-up in major championships, losing the 1975 Open Championship, in a playoff against Tom Watson, and the 1980 Masters Tournament, where he finished four strokes behind the winner, Seve Ballesteros.
The Canberra Times Marathon Festival is an annual marathon held in the city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The marathon was established in 1976 and is the oldest city marathon in Australia. The marathon was initially held on November before being moved to April in 1979.
The Australian Masters was an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia held in Victoria, Australia from 1979 to 2015.
The New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame recognises and honours those whose achievements have enriched the New Zealand thoroughbred horse racing industry.
The Victorian Open is an annual golf tournament held in Australia. It was founded in 1957 and is the Victoria state open championship for men. It is run by Golf Victoria and is a Golf Australia national ranking event.
Michelle J. Payne is an Australian jockey. She won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, riding Prince of Penzance, and is the first and only female jockey to win the event.
The Alternative is a 1978 Australian television film about an unmarried editor of a woman's magazine who finds herself pregnant. She has a relationship with another woman.
Merman (1892–1914) was a Thoroughbred racehorse, one of the finest racehorses in Colonial Australian racing history that raced in Europe. He won at distances from 5 furlongs to 21⁄2 miles. In 2016 Merman was inducted to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Princess Dorrie was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. As a two-year-old in 1913 she failed to win a race but was very consistent, finishing placed in seven of her eight starts. In the following year she was probably the best three-year-old filly in England, winning both the 1000 Guineas and the Epsom Oaks. She was retired at the end of the 1914 season and had modest success as a broodmare.
Book Law was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. The best female racehorse of her generation in Britain, she was noted for her courage and consistency and in her prime she was described as a "fighting machine".
Silver Urn was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. As a two-year-old she showed little ability but in the following spring she won two valuable handicap races and then recorded her biggest win in the 1000 Guineas. On her next appearance she sustained career-ending injuries in the Epsom Oaks and never raced again. She had some success as a dam of winners.
Mark Tapper is an Australian professional golfer.
Barry Vivian is a New Zealand professional golfer. He won the inaugural Australian Masters in 1979 and represented New Zealand in the World Cup three times. He played on the European Senior Tour for a few years where he was twice runner-up.
The 1992 PGA Tour of Australasia was a series of men's professional golf events played mainly in Australia and New Zealand.