Women in Horse Racing - The Fan

I thought this article about Japanese racing trying to draw more women to the track very interesting. However, we found the magic bullet right here - Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. All you really need is 2 outstanding fillies, one on the east coast and one on the west coast. I remember a few years back when Japan had an outstanding filly who ran against the boys winning several races in a row. I don't know if she had the same effect on women as our 2 fillies did in 2009.
https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/umajo-female-only-group-designed-boost-attendance-japanese-racetracks?utm_source=7/21+Mon+NEWS+2+-+1/BetAmerica+2/DerbyWars+3/AmWest&utm_campaign=7/21+Horse+Races+Now+News&utm_medium=email
https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/umajo-female-only-group-designed-boost-attendance-japanese-racetracks?utm_source=7/21+Mon+NEWS+2+-+1/BetAmerica+2/DerbyWars+3/AmWest&utm_campaign=7/21+Horse+Races+Now+News&utm_medium=email
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MARCH IS ALSO WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH...
An article found by @slewpy...
In honor of women's history month, we should be inclusive of women in horse racing history. I found this very interesting article on female jockeys:
http://www.raceday360.com/2016/03/02/early-women-jockeys/
By Jordan Glenn / Arizona Sonora News on Feb 10, 2017
PHOENIX — As the Sunday morning sunshine illuminates the turf at one of America’s oldest horse racetracks, jockeys of all ages walk their horses along the rows of stables and prepare for the completion they look forward to every weekend.
On Jan. 22, though, one name is on everyone’s mind: Amelia Hauschild.
As the morning commotion continues, the Tucson jockey walks through her morning warmup followed by camera crews and a barrage of friendly banter from other jockeys.
At 16, Amelia is one of the youngest female jockeys on the West Coast — and that specific date was her first race as a professional.
http://arizonasonoranewsservice.com/out-of-the-gates-the-story-of-the-youngest-female-jockey-on-the-west-coast/
By Jay Privman DRF 04/19/2017
Jane Proctor, a pioneering female jockey who rode as Jane Driggers, using her maiden name, and later married horseman Hap Proctor, has died in Florida after suffering from an aggressive, malignant brain tumor. She was 61.
Jane Proctor was extremely well known and well liked in the Pacific Northwest, where she was raised and began her career; in California, where she rode as a jockey and then as an exercise rider after marrying Hap; and in Florida, where she and her husband worked at Glen Hill Farm in Ocala, where Hap was the general manager for more than two decades.
Jane Proctor, who was born and raised in Oregon, first rode at Portland Meadows in 1972 at age 16 while still a sophomore in high school and won with her first mount there. She had great success at Portland Meadows, Playfair – where she was the first female jockey to ride an entire card – and Salem, and in 1975, she won the Memorial Day Handicap at Longacres on the fleet Grey Papa, becoming the first female rider to win a stakes race at that historic track.
http://www.drf.com/news/former-jockey-jane-proctor-dies-61
HorseRacingNation.com April 27, 2017
Her focus since she began training horses 30 years ago has been to win races, not count them. Though she knew she was doing well at Laurel Park’s current winter-spring stand, Linda Rice had no idea that success had her in striking distance of a meet title.
With seven days left in a meet that began Jan. 1 and ends May 7, the New York-based Rice –who for the first time has a string of horses at Laurel - has 21 wins, just four shy of co-leaders Claudio Gonzalez and Kieron Magee. Rice has two horses entered both Friday and Saturday at Laurel.
http://www.horseracingnation.com/news/Rice_continues_outstanding_run_at_Laurel_Park_123
Sid Fernando/ Word Press/ January 6, 2017
Isabelle Haskell de Tomaso is the owner and breeder of the New Year’s eve stakes winner Irish War Cry, a New Jersey-bred Curlin colt who ...
https://sidfernando.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/the-most-interesting-woman-in-racing/
LEGENDS
May 1st, 2017 BY Tom Pedulla America's Best Racing
Charlsie Cantey never sought to break ground as the first female racing broadcaster. She never fancied herself as the pioneering type. It just sort of happened.
Cantey was among a handful of women exercising horses in 1975 when Frank Tours, then with the New York Racing Association, asked if she might be interested in appearing regularly on a television show that featured local racing on WOR. The more he asked, the more vehemently she rejected the notion.
Finally, as a way to put the matter to rest more than anything, she reluctantly agreed to meet with Bill Creasy, who oversaw the broadcast and was eager to add Cantey to the voices of Dave Johnson and Frank Wright.
Not long after that, Cantey received a phone call that Wright would be forced to miss one show due to another commitment. Would she replace him for an afternoon?
She agreed, and it was as if it was meant to be from the start. Her search for material began and ended with a horse that could not have been more aptly named – No Bias.
https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2017-charlsie-cantey-pioneer-horse-racing-media
From article:
Cantey knew horses, and she knew special horses as the exercise rider for the great Ruffian. She spoke from the heart, capturing audiences with her knowledge, folksy style and charm.
Michele MacDonald TRC JUNE 13, 2017
It’s mostly by choice that Virginia ‘Ginny’ DePasquale is one of the least known professionals in American racing even though she routinely helps develop some of the most famous and accomplished horses in the sport.
https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/shy-grandmother-who-todd-pletchers-director-operations-royal-ascot-among-other-places/
Here is a link to some bio info on her early life and how she started as a jockey
http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/smith-robyn-1942