Jockey Girl

In Australia Pam O’Neill and Linda Jones, in 1979, were the pioneers that forced jockey club officials to grant women the right to compete on an equal footing in registered races against men. They were unquestionably the first women jockeys to be licensed to ride in the metropolitan areas of Australia. Previously women had been riding against men in Australia at the unregistered “all-height” meetings. Pam created a world record for any jockey, male or female, when she rode a treble at Southport on her first day’s riding. Australia's top woman jockey, Bev Buckingham, became the first female jockey in the Southern Hemisphere to win 1,000 races. In 1998, in a fall at the Elwick Racecourse (Hobart), she broke her neck. She used a wheelchair until she regained her strength and was able to walk again without assistive devices.
In 2004-05 Clare Lindop won the Adelaide jockeys’ premiership and became the first women to win a metropolitan jockeys’ premiership on mainland Australia.
Lisa Cropp won the 2006 New Zealand jockeys’ premiership for the second consecutive season.
In 2005, Andrea Leek became the first woman to ride the winner of the Grand National Hurdle (4,300 m) at Flemington when she won aboard Team Heritage.