Picture: Lisa Prestwood
NHA CEO Vee Moodley said the only thing that had disappointed him about the weight changes that would give female riders 1,5kg for their entire careers was that it had not happened sooner.
“It comes ten years too late,” he said.
He said it was written in stone within the government’s transformation policies that positive discrimination should be put in place to correct the lack of opportunities certain groups had had in the past.
The statistics in SA racing show female jockeys to have lacked opportunity.
In all, 42 female jockeys have entered the South African Jockeys Academy (SAJA) and only 12 have qualified.
Even more worrying is the lack of longevity from those 12.
The statistics for the 12 are:
Lisa Prestwood was turned away by the Academy in 1985 and said the reason given was because she was a woman. After being an assistant trainer to among others Buddy Maroun and riding in amateur races for him, she became aware a few years later that apprentice jockeys licenses could be attained by females in New Zealand. She went over there and came out on loan as a NZ apprentice to ride in her first professional meeting in SA in 1997. She had three rides for Buddy Maroun that day and had two wins and a narrow second. NZ then agreed to transfer her indentures to SA. She qualified as a professional jockey in SA in 1999. However, despite being the only female to ride a Grade 1 winner in SA, she had her last ride in 2007.
Genevieve Michel was the first successful female applicant to SAJA and had her first ride in 1994, qualified in 1998 and a bad fall ended her career in 2001.
Nadine Low Ah Kee (nee Rapson) had her first ride in 1997, she qualified in 2001 and stopped riding in 2011.
Danny McCreedy has the same statistics, her first ride was in 1997, she qualified in 2001 and had her last ride in 2011.
Chantal Cormack (nee Moys) had her first ride in 1997, qualified in 2001 and had her last ride in 2002.
Vicky Lerena (nee Badenhorst) had her first ride in 2001, qualified three or four years later and had her last ride in 2012.
Jessica Goslett had her first ride in 2004, qualified in 2008 and had her last ride in 2012.
Nicola Welch had her first ride in 2006, qualified in 2010 and had her last ride in 2012.
Vicky Minott had her first ride in 2006, qualified in 2009 and had her last ride in 2012.
Melishini Pillay had her first ride in 2007, qualified in 2010 and had her last ride in 2011.
Justine King had her first ride in 2010, qualified in 2013 and had her last ride in 2020.
Denise Lee had her first ride in 2010, qualified in 2014 and had her last ride in 2015.
Moodley said SAJA, including the principal and chief riding master, had been consulted with about the change.
He reminded that he himself sat on the board of the Academy.
Female jockeys still in the system had been consulted with too.
A common theme among the latter was a lack of opportunity.
Moodley added, “This is not an ability allowance. It is there to promote female representation in the jockey ranks as well as their sustainability. You must always ignore exceptions to the rule.”
He said there had been an outcry because of just one female jockey and whilst he felt for Rachel Venniker, who was caught in the middle of the storm, he said this decision was about more than just one person.
“In simple terms this is positive discrimination and has nothing do with undermining females or being sexist. For example, the government is demanding 50% female representation in the cabinet. Is that sexist?”
Moodley added, “Consultation does not mean it should be a democratic vote. Instead an attempt should be made to sell the changes to the stake holders, explain to them what the motives are and hope they understand and buy into it.”
As the most extreme example, he said, “If moves were made to change life sentences from 25 years to 50, should people serving life sentences be the ones to decide the outcome?”
For a recent racing example, he revealed, “Before the new whip rules were changed in the UK, jockeys were consulted with and 97% of them disagreed with the changes. But that doesn’t mean they should not have gone ahead. It is about the mandate and what the bigger message and reasons behind it are.”
He said, “We have got to buy into the principle of change and transformation and there needs to be a mindset change, because after 34 years the attempts to attract females into jockeyship and provide them with sustainability in the sport has failed.”
He said a target would be to have enough female jockeys to stage a female riders only race.
He said, “The transorfmation process has also included staging entire meetings for workriders. Now, supposing we did away with the 1.5kg allowance for female riders down the line and we said instead said there is going to be at least two races per meeting, or 600 races per year, in which only females can ride … will there not be just as big an outcry?”
His point was the need to create opportunities for female riders.
He said the female rider allowance in France had seen opportunities for them almost trebling and their winning strike rates almost doubling.
Moodley said he did not have statistics on how many more females had been attracted to jockeyship in France as a result, but said the longevity of the female jockeys in the system would naturally increase.
He said it was indeed one of the aims of the allowance to attract more female riders into the sport.
However, he said how this was marketed was up to the Academy.
He said, “It must be remembered that when S’Manga Khumalo was recruited he knew nothing about horses.”
Another question which has cropped up concerns UK women jockeys recently proving themselves the equal of men and doing it in numbers.
Moodley said, “There is a culture of racing there. We have to look at what the reality is over here.”
He said he had recently attended a traditional race meeting in South Africa and watched a race which had been restricted to female riders.
He said, “I was asked if we had such races and when I said no they all frowned.”
