Carrie Ford

Carrie Ford has over twenty years’ experience working directly in the horseracing industry. Having studied thoroughbred horse management at Witney College, she went on to gain valuable experience working for leading trainers in Ireland, Canada, America and New Zealand prior to setting up a racehorse training establishment in the North West with her (former) husband Richard Ford.
She combined her assistant trainer role with holding an amateur rider/professional Jockey Licence, 1987-2005. During that time she was twice Champion Lady National Hunt Amateur Rider, and six times North Western Area Point to Point Champion Lady Rider. Winning just under 100 races in total, from over 700 rides, her most notable achievements in the saddle are winning The Foxhunters’ Chase, Aintree in 2004 on Forest Gunner (10 weeks after having a baby) and finishing 5th on the same horse in the following years Grand National, becoming only the third female Jockey to complete the course. She also represented Great Britain in Amateur Flat Races in Austria, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia and Malta.
In 2014, Carrie was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts degree by Chester University, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to British Horseracing.
She is currently the northern region Education Officer for Racing to School; a charity which runs several Education Programmes and delivers free outdoor learning activities for young people at racecourses, studs and trainers’ yards across the country.