AT THE RACES:Meet the four Irish women jockeys who will compete in a hotly anticipated charity race at Cheltenham next Thursday
THURSDAY IS ladies’ day at the Cheltenham Festival, but a certain quartet of Irish women will not be concerned with looking their best. Hearts in their mouths, they will spend the day in an agonising, stomach-churning suspension of waiting until the last race of the day. Kitted out in helmets, body protectors, silks and boots, they will be making history as the first women to ride in a Cheltenham race. All share a steely, knife-sharp determination to win, and the odds on them reflect it.
The race is for Cancer Research UK, and 12 were selected to ride from more than 130 applicants. Elisabeth Murdoch – daughter of Rupert – and trainer Nicky Henderson’s daughter Camilla are also riding. Many of the riders have been practically reared at Cheltenham, but what they don’t possess is the uniquely Irish pedigree of being a farmer’s daughter (which three of the four have), or being reared around horses to such an extent that equine blood almost courses through their veins.
All are excellent horsewomen, and when they feel like getting some thoroughbred action, they can text the best trainers in the country and request to ride out for them. In these yards, a who’s who of Irish racing congregates early in the tack room as the days’ lots are drawn, and the first of four three-mile gallops is undertaken. They are as race-fit as it is possible for a non-professional jockey to be.
For these women, and for the thousands of Irish punters who throng the racecourse, Cheltenham is the theatre of dreams. It’s where every Irish trainer longs to run a horse, where every Irish jockey wants to ride the winner, and where every owner and syndicate fantasises about celebrations in the parade ring.
Preparations for the race are all-consuming: Caitrin O’Rourke, from a well-known Meath sporting family, is a children’s nurse at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, and is working flat out to get the time off to go. She was raised close to Fairyhouse Racecourse, and her father kept horses as part of a syndicate.
She’ll ride a horse for Michael O’Leary, and has form: she won a charity race at Punchestown last year. “Winning that race was such a good buzz. You have to be riding racehorses and be confident. You can get so nervous, you have to be confident youre capable of riding that horse.” Favourite to win, with odds at 5/1, she downplays her chances. “To be honest, I feel like I’ve won already, just being there.”
Kate Doyle, who is tiny, gets down on her hunkers in the lobby of the Gresham to demonstrate just where and how riding a racehorse hurts. It’s hard to imagine her in control of a thoroughbred, but she was born to it. Her mother, former MEP Avril Doyle, has strong connections in the horse world; her father breeds horses, and her sister Liz is now a successful trainer. “We were always heavily involved in competing, and I did a lot of eventing.”
A sister in London heard about the race just before Christmas. “My whole family sort of coaxed me into it. It’s been great re-connecting with old friends in the horsey world, and having to fundraise and get myself fit and ready to ride.” She has flinty determination: “I’m very competitive. My sister keeps reminding me this is for charity and it’s about enjoying the day and the occasion, but I really, really want to win.”
Orna Madden is a barrister, and faces a unique challenge: not only will this be her very first race, it’s also her first time at Cheltenham. An experienced event rider, up to four years ago she rode at international level. With her good friend Kate Doyle, she has been training on the mechanical horses in RACE, the jockey apprentice school in Kildare. She heard about the charity race in the new year: “I suppose everyone has resolutions, and is looking for a challenge. I’d given up competing, kind of lost touch with the horses. It’s certainly proving more challenging than I thought.” She is not put off by her lack of experience. “I’m definitely in contention. This is my first race, I’m enjoying the preparations, and of course I want to win.”
Rachael Kane, a journalist with the Irish Star, says she was sitting on a horse before she could walk herself. She competed at national level in cross-country, showjumping and horse trials, and last year she rode at Punchestown, in the same race that O'Rourke won.
For Cheltenham, she is riding a horse owned by the paper’s staff and reader syndicate. Her excitement about the race has been at fever-pitch ever since she heard of her acceptance, four weeks ago. “The news slapped me across the face, and I knew it was reality now, not a fairytale. Every time I think about it I get butterflies.” When it comes to winning, she insists, for once, the cliche holds true. “It’s not about winning, it’s about taking part. I’m in exceptional company with the calibre of riders that are taking part, nobody knows what’s going to happen, so much depends on the horses.”
The Cheltenham Festival takes place next Tuesday to Friday in Gloucestershire
