KATHY TAKES HER CHANCES

Unlike most sports, where competitors are split by gender, horseracing is still a level playing field: girls take on boys with no allowances made.

 

To what level can 22-year-old Kathy O’Hara rise in her career as a Sydney jockey?

 

On Saturday at Randwick Kathy was very impressive when getting Sandberg home in the last stride to win the 2400m Bosco Bulldogs Race Day Handicap to conquer Zampara and Dandee Topwin. He continued Kathy’s great form of late, following a win aboard Hood at Goulburn on Friday. Both Hood and Sandberg look like they will improve during 2010.

 

Kathy has been in the spotlight in recent weeks for her association with juvenile filly Chance Bye.

 

Born in Singleton, the heart of the Hunter Valley where some of the best vineyards in Australia stand and the best thoroughbreds are foaled, Kathy was definitely born into the right area. Growing up in Goulburn NSW, Kathy first started riding for a friend in the early hours of the morning, then gradually started strapping at meetings and just slowly worked herself into riding at meetings, from there she hasn't looked backed since.

 

Chance Bye left bookmakers reeling when she showed brilliant speed to run away with the $250,000 Inglis Nursery at Randwick on debut. The plunge was generated by professional form students who had assessed two barrier trial performances by the bargain priced youngster at Kembla Grange. The Snitzel filly, a $15,000 purchase, prepared by Kembla Grange trainer Michael Tubman, won her second 800m trial at Kembla Grange on December 9 by 12 lengths in a very fast 46.39 seconds, a full two seconds quicker than older horses in the other trials.

 

The filly took her earnings to more than $300,000 from her two starts with victory in the 1200 metre Inglis Classic. Chance Bye ($1.85 fav) gave Tubman little cause for concern, jumping straight to the front for Kathy O'Hara and increasing her margin on straightening to cruise to the post 3-1/2 lengths ahead of Ilovethiscity ($9) with Spot The Rock ($14) a similar margin away third.

Chance Bye will be given a short break and brought back for the Silver Slipper ahead of the $3.5 million Golden Slipper on Easter Saturday.

 

 

American jockey Julie Krone has the most career wins (3,158) and career earnings ($70.6 million) of any female jockey. From 1986 to 1996, she won 2,511 races in 13,782 starts. In 1993, she became the first woman jockey ever to win a Triple Crown race when she took the Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair. Not unlike O'Hara in stature, Krone was the first woman to win five races in one day, the first woman to win a riding title at a major track and one of only three US jockeys to win six races on the one card.

 

Hayley Turner is the most successful female rider in the UK. Last year she became the first female jockey to win 100 races in a calendar year.

 

Born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, Turner was first put on a horse by her mother, a riding instructor, not long after she’d learnt to walk, and never looked back. At 16 she completed a 10-week taster course at Doncaster Northern Racing College, then took up an apprenticeship with Mark Polglase, a Nottinghamshire trainer, and was soon racing competitively.

 

Maree Lyndon was the first female jockey to make a real impact on Sydney. In 1987, aged 23, she quickly kicked home 11 metropolitan winners early, which followed more than 200 New Zealand successes. She also accumulated a broken nose three times, a fractured skull, broken finger, broken wrist and concussion. After subsequently riding with distinction on the Asian circuit, she retired from riding.

Betfair has selected two investment banks to advise it on a $2.7billion sharemarket float.

 

The betting exchange is understood to have chosen Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to weigh up options for its future, which include a possible sale or share listing. The deal could lead to a giant windfall for Betfair’s founders, Ed Wray, a former JPMorgan trader, and Andrew Black, once a professional gambler. They own 25 per cent of the company between them. It could also mark an exit for Japanese backer Softbank, which has a 23 per cent stake. However, a float is unlikely to take place until late in the year.

 

Britain’s racecourses held their own in the face of the recession in 2009, with attendances bucking the global downward trend. The statistics show the number of people who went racing rose to 5,718,729, a 0.04 per cent rise on the previous year. With a 0.28 per cent increase in the number of fixtures to 1,427, the average daily attendance of 4,008 was 0.22 per cent down on 2008, but this is regarded as insignificant as racecourse visits topped 5.7 million for the seventh consecutive year.