Here we chart the progress of women in racing over time.
You can find out more at our AGM in October 2024 – click here for details.
Please do let us know if we have missed anything by emailing info@womeninracing.co.uk.
| Event | Date | Name |
| First female trainer granted a permit* | 1886 | Ellen Chaloner |
| First Female Champion Owner in Britain | 1918 | Lady Jane Douglas |
| First female trainer of a British Classic (unofficial)** | 1956 | Helen Johnson Houghton |
| First female jockey to ride in a race under Rules | 1967 | Val Greaves |
| First female jockey to win under Rules (amateur ladies race) | 1972 | Meriel Tufnell |
| First female jockey to win a mixed race under Rules (amateur) | 1974 | Linda Goodwill |
| Women allowed to become Jockey Club Members | 1977 | Helen Johnson Houghton, Priscilla Hastings & Ruth Wood, Countess of Halifax |
| First female jockey to win (Flat, Professional) | 1978 | Karen Wiltshire |
| First female jockey to win (Jumps, Professional) | 1978 | Val Greaves |
| First female trainer to win Grand National | 1983 | Jenny Pitman |
| First female trainer of a British Classic | 1983 | Criquette Head-Maarek (1,000 Guineas) |
| First female jockey to ride a Royal Ascot winner | 1987 | Gay Kelleway |
| First female jockey to ride in Derby | 1996 | Alex Greaves |
| First Female jockey to ride a Flat G1 winner (dead heat) | 1997 | Alex Greaves |
| First female jockey to ride 100 winners in a season | 2008 | Hayley Turner |
| Women in Racing established | 2009 | |
| First female jockey to ride a Flat G1 winner (outright) | 2011 | Hayley Turner |
| First female jockey to ride a Jumps Gr1 winner | 2015 | Lizzie Kelly |
| First female jockey to win a Gr1 at Cheltenham Festival | 2019 | Bryony Frost |
| First female CEO of BHA | 2020 | Julie Harrington |
| First female jockey ro ride the Grand National winner | 2021 | Rachel Blackmore |
| First female jockey to ride 1,000 winners | 2023 | Hayley Turner |
| First female judge to adjuticate an Epsom Classic | 2024 | Jane Green |
| First female Senior Steward of JC | 2024 | Dido Harding |
| 2nd female jockey to ride 1,000 winners | 2024 | Hollie Doyle |
We’d like to make a special mention to Florence Nagle. In the inaugural ‘Directory of the Turf’, published in 1961, the ‘Trainers’ section contains a unique entry. It is Florence Nagle’s. Under the heading ‘Date of first trainer’s licence’, she has answered, “Probably never”.
Under ‘Any other details’, she writes: “I should not be in this book as like several other women I am only a ghost, unrecognised, without responsibility, but the fact remains that I train the horses and the mistakes and failures are mine, ditto the rare triumphs. One day perhaps the powers that be will grow up and recognise it is possible for a woman to train a horse.”
Mrs Nagle, then aged 66, trained a string of about 20 at Petworth, in Sussex, but the licence was held by her head man, William Stickley. She had been a racehorse owner since 1920 and a trainer since the early 1930s. Her best horse was Sandsprite, 100-1 runner-up to Mid-day Sun in the 1937 Derby when ridden by the King’s jockey, Jackie Crouch.
With Mid-day Sun being owned by a woman, Lettice Miller (officially Mrs G. B.Miller), and the second being owned and trained by a woman, it struck a chord with both the public and the newspapers, receiving extensive front-page coverage in the press.
Mrs Nagle, along with another woman trainer, Norah Wilmot, had been campaigning for more than 20 years for women to be issued with training licences. Their requests were repeatedly refused, effectively forcing them into the subterfuge of having a male employee to hold the licence.
Miss Wilmot, 72, had been training for 30 years, based at Binfield, in Berkshire. The licence was held on her behalf by Robert Greenhill. Her horses included Night Watch, owned by the Queen.
In February 1965 Mrs Nagle had written to the Jockey Club in support of her case. She pointed out that there was no rule forbidding the granting of a trainer’s licence to women; that suitable women had been granted licences in other parts of the world; that Madame du Bois, a leading trainer in Belgium, has entered and run horses in major races at Ascot; and that many male trainers acknowledged that they would be unable to run their stables without girl grooms.
She added that everybody knew and recognised that in certain stables the horses were trained by women and that it was only official recognition that was being denied them.
She concluded: “There has never been a reason given for the refusal to grant licences to women. Surely it would only be fair to state the reason. Last year I was informed by the Acting Steward that I knew the reason. I can only categorically state that I have no idea what the reasons are, as the ones suggested to me by various people were too foolish to be possible.”
When Weatherbys, responding on the Jockey Club’s behalf, again refused her request, she replied: “Your letter, needless to say, does not surprise me. What a passing of the buck from one body to another.
“Naturally, as there is no good reason for the refusal of the Jockey Club, or none that would stand up to publicity, you have to make it confidential, but I shall fight this decision of the ruling body by every means in my power, publicly and privately. Somebody has got to try and drag the Jockey Club into the 20th Century.”
The next step came in January 1966 when Mrs Nagle served a writ against two Jockey Club stewards, Viscount Allendale and Sir Randle Feilden. They were sued individually and on behalf of other stewards and members of the Jockey Club. The writ alleged that Mrs Nagle’s applications for a trainer’s licence had been refused solely on the grounds that she was a woman, and that the stewards’ practice was unlawful, in restraint of trade and contrary to public policy.
The action was initially struck out by Mr Justice John Stephenson, but the following month the Court of Appeal ruled that Mrs Nagle should be allowed to continue her High Court challenge, stating that the Jockey Club stewards’ refusal to grant training licences to women was “arbitrary and entirely out of touch with the present state of society”.
The information relating to Florence Nagle is from the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame – you can read the article in full here.