Female jockeys make history in Toowoomba with clean sweep of all races at meet
/ By Lucy Robinson and Belinda SandersFive female jockeys have made history in Toowoomba by winning all seven races on the card at a single meeting.
Montanna Savva, Hannah Richardson and Isabella Rabjones each won a race at Clifford Park, in Toowoomba, on Saturday night, while Angela Jones and Georgina Cartwright won two apiece.
It is the first time all races on one card have been won by women at the regional Queensland city.
Georgina Cartwright, who drove from another meeting to make the final two races, said it was a satisfying feeling.
"I got there by race five and the guy on the scale says to me, 'All the girls have won all the races so far'," she said.
"I haven't been in a meeting before where [women] have won every race.
"It was sort of in the back of my mind that it'd be nice to have happen but … I had a job to do and had in my mind mainly the race plan.
"When I went over the line, I realised we had ridden the card, so that was great."
Cartwright, who is based in Brisbane, has been a jockey for five years and said the all-female wins reflected a changing demographic in the industry.
"It just shows how far society has come in recognising … female riders," she said.
"Even over the last five years I've noticed a big shift.
"The majority of trainers now are very happy to put females on.
"There's not enough room in most of the [jockey's] rooms for the females because when they were built, the females' rooms used to be quite small.
"I have been in a couple of meetings where they've had to put the girls in the males' rooms and the males into the females' room."
First female jockey 'very proud'
The first time female jockeys rode all winners on the card at an Australian TAB meeting was on January 19, 2010, in Rockhampton.
The feat in Toowoomba comes a week out from the Melbourne Cup, in which Michelle Payne made history in 2015 as the first female winner.
Pam O'Neill, who in 1979 became the first woman to hold an Australian jockey's license, said she had seen women's involvement in the industry grow significantly in the four decades since.
"It's an industry where they don't judge you really … on your sex, it's whether you've got the ability to do it," she said.
"If you're good enough to ride that horse, they will put you on."
But it wasn't always that way.
Ms O'Neill fought for 15 years to have the rules changed so she could compete.
"It was discrimination against women," she said.
"There used to be designated areas where women couldn't go on a racetrack.
"I look at some of the papers now and you see that three-quarters of the fields are contested by females, especially in the country areas.
"I'm very proud of them all."
'No disadvantage'
Apprentice jockey Angela Jones said key figures like O'Neill helped smooth the path for today's female jockeys.
"They had to really probably work 10 times harder just to get even seen," O'Neill said.
"I don't think there's any disadvantage being a girl in the industry now, not like there would have been 10 years ago … just being outnumbered for one.
"Males are naturally [physically] stronger, but I think they're starting to see how girls have naturally softer hands [which is] such a big advantage."
She said the achievement on Saturday was "quite incredible".
"Toowoomba's got a nice room of female jockeys usually every week, so I was actually surprised that hadn't happened before," she said.
"But it was amazing to be a part of."