Female jockeys

[Clodagh]

Lorna Brooke died yesterday

Such tragic news. My thoughts go to her family and friends.

 

[bonny]

Lorna Brooke died yesterday

Just been reading about her death, awful news, she sounded such a strong woman x

 

[TPO]

So sad

Thoughts are with her friends and family

 

[Parrotperson]

Terribly sad about Lorna. And it won’t make the sports bulletin or the newspapers. Rest in peace. ?

 

[Merry neddy man]

Terribly sad about Lorna. And it won’t make the sports bulletin or the newspapers. Rest in peace. ?

It was in the Guardian the Daily Mail the Daily Express the Telegraph and the Sun the Mirror and lots of evening and rural papers. And I'm sure it will have been in many more. It must have been extremely hard for her mum who she was riding for at the time of fall. God bless her may she rest in peace.

 

[Bob notacob]

So sad . Rest in peace girl.

 

[ycbm]

I hope she died without regaining consciousness, with her last memory being of doing something thrilling that she loved. She's at peace now, it's just awful for her family to lose her so young.
.

 

[Annagain]

It's terribly sad about Lorna Brooke. I don't follow racing particularly but this did make it onto the more mainstream channels.

Time are changing because of the like of Rachael Blackmore, Nina Carberry, Katie Walsh, Holly Doyle, Nicola Curry etc. They are good riders who are down to earth and get the job done. Bryony Frost is setting that campaign back. I know the public like her banging on about her special pegasus and her pet pony etc. But in racing we quite simply see that as annoying and childish. Something a 12yo would say who had just won their first jump off. Not a professional jockey.

As I said I don't really follow racing but I think it's refreshing to see a jockey who clearly cares about her horses and gives them the credit for doing well. If that's a female thing then we need more women in racing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a woman doing something a woman's way if it delivers the same results. To suggest that copying the men is the only way to do it does women, the horses and the sport a huge disservice. Nobody claims Pippa Funnell or Piggy March is unprofessional for clearly loving their horses, or even Michael Jung with Sam.

Over the years, we've had both men and women as senior managers in my organisation. Most of the women have a had a far more flexible, empathetic approach and the workplace is often much happier and productive for it. The absolute worst ones I've had have been women who have tried to out-man the men.