British Champions Sprint (2020) British Champions Long Distance Cup (2020, 2021) Princess of Wales's Stakes (2020) Goodwood Cup (2021) Prix de Diane (2022) Nassau Stakes (2022) Prix du Cadran (2023) Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp (2022) King's Stand Stakes (2023) Falmouth Stakes (2023) Nunthorpe Stakes (2024)
Hollie Doyle (born 11 October 1996) is a British jockey who competes in flat racing. She set a new record for winners ridden in a British season by a female jockey in 2019. She came third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 2020, and was also named The Sunday Times sportswoman of the year. In June 2022 she became the first female jockey to win a French Classic and the first female jockey to win a European Group 1 Classic when she rode Nashwa to victory in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly. In 2022, she came joint second in the Flat Jockeys' Championship, the highest result for a woman to date.
Doyle comes from a racing background. Her father Mark Doyle, from Clonmel, is a former jockey and her mother Caroline rode in Arab horse races. The family lived in Herefordshire and had point-to-pointers and ponies at home. Doyle was a member of the Radnorshire & West Herefordshire Pony Club and rode her first pony race at the age of nine.[1] She had her first ride under rules as an amateur rider on The Mongoose at Salisbury in May 2013, winning by half a length.[2] After taking her GCSEs in 2013, she joined the training yard of David Evans in Wales. That winter she spent six weeks riding trackwork in Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.[1]
Career
Doyle moved as an apprentice jockey to the Wiltshire yard of trainer Richard Hannon in 2014 and rode out her claim in November 2017.[3] Her first win in a Listed race came on Billesdon Bess in the August 2017 Upavon Fillies' Stakes at Salisbury while still an apprentice.[1] In June 2018 Doyle was unseated in a race at Haydock and suffered facial injuries including the loss of several teeth. She returned to race riding after 10 days.[4]
In 2019 Doyle set a new record for winners ridden in a calendar year in Britain by a female jockey with 116 victories, passing the previous record of 106 winners set by Josephine Gordon in 2017.[5] Doyle's first win at Royal Ascot came in June 2020 when she steered 33/1 chance Scarlet Dragon to victory in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes.[6]
Doyle rode her first Group race winner on 9 July 2020 on Dame Malliot in the Princess of Wales's Stakes on the July Course at Newmarket.[7] In the same month she was appointed as a retained jockey for owner Imad Al Sagar, and in August won the Rose of Lancaster Stakes on Extra Elusive for her new retainer. It was Doyle's second Group race win.[8] On 29 August 2020 Doyle rode five winners in one day at Windsor Racecourse, making her the first female jockey to win five races on the same card in Britain.[9] On 14 October 2020 Doyle rode her 117th winner of the season, breaking the female jockeys' record she set in 2019.[10] On 17 October 2020, Doyle became the first female jockey to ride a winner on Champions Day at Ascot, when she steered Trueshan to victory in the Long Distance Cup. This was followed by a win in the Champions Sprint on Glen Shiel, trained by Archie Watson for whom Doyle rides as stable jockey. It was Doyle's first Group 1 win, and also a first Group 1 for Watson.[11][12]
Doyle secured another five-timer, this time at Kempton Park, on 3 March 2021.[15] She had her first opportunity to ride in a Classic race in the 2021 2000 Guineas, but her mount, outsider Albadri, reared up and fell on leaving the paddock and was withdrawn from the race.[16] Another opportunity came when she was given the ride on Sherbet Lemon in the 2021 Oaks.[17] Sherbert Lemon, a 28/1 outsider, finished ninth of 14 runners,[18] a record placing for a female jockey in a British Classic race.
Doyle secured her second Group 1 victory on 27 July 2021 when she won the Goodwood Cup on 6/5 favourite Trueshan. She won the next two races to complete a 123-1 treble. [19] On 11 September 2021, she rode the Aidan O'Brien trained Interpretation into fourth place in the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster, becoming the first female jockey to be placed in the prize money in a British Classic.
In September 2021 Doyle was given a seven-day ban for careless riding in a race at Kempton Park. The ban meant she missed a ride on Trueshan in the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp. James Doyle was given the ride and won the race.[20] Doyle rode her 152nd winner of the year on 22 October, surpassing her own record for a British female jockey of 151 wins in 2020.[21]
On 3 June 2022 Doyle rode Nashwa, bred and owned by Al Sagar and trained by John and Thady Gosden, into third place in the Oaks, a record for a female jockey in a British Classic.[22] On 19 June 2022 Nashwa started 3/1 favourite for the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly. Doyle rode her to a narrow victory, becoming the first female jockey to win a European Group 1 Classic.[lower-alpha 1][23] Nashwa provided Doyle with another Group 1 win in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood in July. Doyle's fifth Group 1 win came on two-year-old The Platinum Queen, trained by Richard Fahey, in the Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp in October.[24] She came joint second in the 2022 flat jockeys' championship, the highest-ever ranking for a woman. She was tied with her husband Tom Marquand on 91 wins, 66 behind William Buick.[25] The couple then set off to spend two months riding in Japan.[26]
Doyle at prizegiving, Prix du Cadran 2023
On 16 January 2023, Doyle fractured her elbow and ruptured ligaments after her mount The Perfect Crown suffered a fatal injury during a race at Wolverhampton.[27] The injury kept Doyle out of racing for two-an-a-half months.[28] In June 2023 she secured her second European Classic, the Group 2 Oaks d'Italia at San Siro Racecourse in Milan, riding Shavasana for trainer Stefano Botti.[29] Later that month she became the first female jockey to ride a Group 1 winner at Royal Ascot, when Bradsell, trained by Watson, survived a stewards' enquiry to take the King's Stand Stakes.[30] There were further Group 1 successes on Nashwa in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket and on Trueshan in the Prix du Cadran at Longchamps.[24][31]
In October 2023 Doyle was given a one-month suspended ban, having tested positive for dihydrocodeine in April. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) accepted that she had taken the substance inadvertently in an over-the-counter painkiller purchased in Japan.[32] Doyle, together with Marquand, returned to Japan in November 2023 for another short term contract.[33] In August 2024, Bradsell won the Nunthorpe Stakes to give Doyle her ninth Group 1 win.[34] Doyle rode her 1,000th winner on 3 September 2024 at Goodwood.[35]
Doyle has competed three times (2017, 2018 and 2023) in the Shergar Cup team event, being part of the winning team in 2018 and 2023 and winning the silver saddle award in 2023 for the jockey with the most points in the event.[36]
Awards
In 2019 Doyle was awarded a Lester for lady jockey of the year.[37] In December 2020 she was named The Sunday Times sportswoman of the year.[38] Later that month she took third place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award,[39] and was awarded three Lesters including flat jockey of the year.[40] In February 2022 she again won the female jockey of the year Lester award.[41]
Personal life
Doyle's husband is jockey Tom Marquand. The couple met in their Pony Club days, and they were for a time apprentices together at Richard Hannon's yard.[1] They became engaged in 2020 and married on 21 March 2022 in the parish church of the village of Ivington in Herefordshire.[42]
Kieren Francis Fallon is a retired Irish professional flat racing jockey and was British Champion Jockey six times.
Johnny Murtagh is an Irish flat racing trainer and former jockey from Bohermeen, near Navan, Kells, County Meath. As a jockey he won many of the major flat races in Europe, including all the Irish Classics, all the Group 1 Races at Royal Ascot, The Derby, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Europe's biggest race the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He was also Irish flat racing Champion Jockey five times. As a trainer, based at stables near Kildare, he has saddled a winner at Royal Ascot and an Irish Classic winner.
Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, is an Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and rode the winners of 287 Group 1 races including 23 winners of the British Classic Races. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse on 28 September 1996.
Ryan Lee Moore is an English flat racing jockey, who was Champion Jockey in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He is currently the first choice jockey for Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle operation, a role in which he mainly rides horses owned by Coolmore Stud. He also sometimes rides horses for Juddmonte and The Royal Family. As of 2024, Moore has ridden over 200 Group and Grade 1 winners internationally. He has the most British Group & Listed wins of any active jockey.
Jamie Spencer is an Irish flat racing jockey currently riding in the UK. He has been champion jockey in both Ireland and Britain and has won seven classics, five in Ireland and two in England. Spencer is an advocate for the art of holding up horses late into the races, and then making use of their natural dash of speed.
John Harry Martin Gosden is a British racehorse trainer. He has trained over 3,000 winners worldwide, including victories in the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Derby, the Arc, the King George and the Eclipse. He’s won over 600 races in the United States.
Joseph Mercer, OBE was an English thoroughbred race horse jockey. He was active from 1947 to 1985, riding 2,810 winners in Britain. Mercer's nickname was "Smokin' Joe.”
Hayley Turner is an English jockey who competes in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she is based in Newmarket.
Greville Michael Wilson Starkey was an English jockey who rode almost 2,000 winners during a 33-year career on the flat.
Tom Queally is an Irish flat racing jockey based in Britain. He rode Frankel in his unbeaten 14-race career.
William Buick is a Norwegian-British flat jockey. He shared the champion apprentice jockey title in 2008 with David Probert and won the Lester Award for Apprentice Jockey of the Year in 2007 and 2008. From 2010 to 2014 he was stable jockey to John Gosden. In 2015 he signed with Godolphin. Buick won his first Group1 race in Canada in 2010 and since then has won Group 1 races in England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. He has won five British Classic Races: the St Leger in 2010, 2011 and 2021, the Derby in 2018 and the 2000 Guineas in 2024.
Silvestre de Sousa is a Brazilian flat racing jockey who is based in Britain and was three times champion jockey.
Paul Hanagan is a Classic-winning British flat racing jockey. Hanagan was twice been crowned champion jockey on the flat in Britain, riding 165 winners in 2011 to defend his title, having won his first title with 191 winners in 2010. Over a career spanning 25 years, he won a total of ten Group 1 races including the Epsom Oaks. From 1999 to 2022 he rode for the Malton-based trainer Richard Fahey, except for a four-and-a-half year break when he was retained by owner Sheikh Hamdan. He announced his retirement from race riding in August 2023.
James Doyle is a flat racing jockey. He is the son of former trainer Jacqueline Doyle. Since 2014, he has been one of the retained riders to Godolphin Racing in the UK, mainly riding horses trained by Charlie Appleby, but has announced he will ride for the Emir of Qatar from the start of 2024.
Josephine Gordon is a British jockey who competes in Flat racing. In 2016 Gordon won the British flat racing Champion Apprentice title, becoming only the third female jockey to win that title after Hayley Turner and Amy Ryan.
Tom Marquand is a British jockey who competes in flat racing.
David Egan is an Irish jockey who is based in Britain and competes in flat racing. He was British champion apprentice in 2017. From 2019 to 2022 he was retained by owner Prince Faisal, for whom he won the 2021 Saudi Cup on Mishriff. Since July 2022 he has ridden freelance, and achieved two Classic victories on the Roger Varian trained Eldar Eldarov.
Trueshan is a French-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse who specialises in races over extended distances. He finished unplaced in his only race as a two-year-old in 2018 but won four of his five starts in the following year and made further improvement as a four-year-old when he took the Listed Tapster Stakes and the Group 2 British Champions Long Distance Cup. In 2021 he recorded Group 1 victories in the Goodwood Cup and Prix du Cadran as well as a second British Champions Long Distance Cup. The following season as a six-year-old he won the Northumberland Plate and achieved a third consecutive victory in the British Champions Long Distance Cup.
Nashwa is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. After finishing third in her only start as a two-year-old in 2021 she emerged as a top-class middle distance filly in the following year, winning the Fillies' Trial Stakes and running third in the Epsom Oaks before taking the Prix de Diane and Nassau Stakes.
Robert Hornby is a British jockey who competes in flat racing. Riding as a freelance, his four Group 1 wins, as of 2023, have been for trainers Andrew Balding and Ralph Beckett.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
