It’s just over thirty years since Gay
Kelleway became the first, and only, female jockey to win a race at
Royal Ascot. Gay, 53, remembers the occasion well, so well in fact,
that her current training establishment, Queen Alexandra Stables, in
the village of Exning, near Newmarket, Suffolk, is named after the
race she won on Sprowston Boy all those years ago.
After a successful riding career, Gay
took out a training licence in 1992 and saddled her first winner,
Aberfoyle, in a handicap hurdle at Lingfield the following January.
After brief spells at Charnwood Stables and, temporarily, at Eve
Lodge Stables in Newmarket, Gay moved to the modern, but remote,
Whitcombe Manor Stables in the heart of the Dorset countryside, where
she remained until 1998. At that time, Gay took what appeared to be
the next logical step when she moved her 40-strong string to
Lingfield Park Racecourse, where she became the first resident
trainer at the track.
Gay has long talked about relocating to
France but, despite having placed her current historic yard on the
market more than once in recent years, is apparently now “on the
lookout for a 50-box yard here to have all the horses under one
roof.” In the meantime, in 2017, with numbers on the increase, she
expanded her Exning operation into nearby Newmarket by taking a barn
at Red House Hill Stables on Hamilton Road to house an additional 12
horses.
Like her father, the late Paul
Kelleway, Gay is a colourful, outspoken character. Unfortunately, she
has also inherited the family trait of handling mainly modest horses,
with the occasional sensational success thrown in. A recent example
of the latter is Lightscameraction, 20/1 winner of the 3-Year-Old
Sprint All-Weather Championships – worth £93, 375 to the winner –
at Lingfield in 2015. Earlier in her career, Gay trained Vortex –
an £18,000 ‘castoff’ from Michael Stoute – to win 17 of his 74
races for the yard and over £334,000 in win and place prize money
between 2002 and 2008. In his penultimate season, as an 8-year-old,
the Danehill gelding finished third in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal
Ascot under 9st 10lb at odds of 50/1.
All in all, in training career lasting
just over 25 years, Gay has saddled roughly 600 winners. She has 30
horses in training at Queen Alexandra Stables, so three winners from
10 runners so far in 2018 is a perfectly reasonable rate of return
from such a small string.
Once billed as “one of the most
exciting and talented trainers of modern times”, Gay
Kelleway should continue to keep her male counterparts on their toes.
No comments:
Post a Comment