\u201cI\u2019m obsessed with winning,\u201d Hollie Doyle says calmly in response to a suggestion that she seems consumed by racing, \u201cbut I do love horses as well. So that helps, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
The most successful female jockey in British racing history had begun our interview with an impressively crunching handshake. Doyle\u2019s cheerfully powerful greeting confirmed that her small but muscled frame ripples with the strength of a supreme jockey absorbed in the singular world of racing. But her daily grind is elevated by more than a thousand victories in the saddle.<\/p>\n
Doyle offers a grimace of a smile when I ask if she is anything like AP McCoy, the great jump jockey, who said that the elation of a winner usually lasted less than a minute before he felt compelled to look ahead to his next fix of a victory. \u201cYes, unfortunately I am like that,\u201d Doyle says in the shade of an oak tree before a sunlit evening of racing at Sandown. \u201cI wish I wasn\u2019t, because it\u2019s a shame. Nothing lasts for ever and I\u2019m sure when I\u2019m 50 or 60 I\u2019ll look back on what I\u2019ve done and think: \u2018I should have enjoyed that a bit more.\u2019 But I\u2019m just so driven by winning that, when I cross the line in front I think: \u2018Job done, what\u2019s next?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old rode her 1,000th winner in Britain on Handle With Care at Lingfield in March. She became only the second woman jockey, after Hayley Turner, to reach that milestone. Seven weeks later Doyle broke Turner\u2019s record<\/a> when romping past the winning post first on Brindavan at Ascot. Winner number 1,023 established her place at the summit for female jockeys but, as Doyle says, that title is largely meaningless compared to the championship she wants most.<\/p>\n Did her 1,000th winner feel the more significant landmark? \u201cYes, I think so. I wanted to get to 1,000 because for any jockey it\u2019s a good milestone. It was nice to break Hayley\u2019s record but it wasn\u2019t something where I\u2019d said: \u2018I want to take her record.\u2019 I don\u2019t see myself as a top female jockey. I just see myself as a jockey.\u201d<\/p>\n As Doyle prepares to ride at Royal Ascot<\/a> from Tuesday, she adds: \u201cI just want to be the best jockey. I don\u2019t compare myself to other females and I never did when I was growing up. Obviously I was aware of Hayley but I looked up to AP McCoy, Ryan Moore and Kieren Fallon.\u201d<\/p>\n Doyle broke the record for the most number of winners by a female jockey on Brindavan at Ascot in May. Photograph: Maureen McLean\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Her greatest racing desire is to eventually become champion jockey. \u201cYou must have a burning ambition,\u201d Doyle suggests, \u201cand that\u2019s mine. I will do everything possible to be the best rider I can to put me in a position that, if I ever get the opportunity, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2022 she and her husband, Tom Marquand, finished tied-second in the jockeys\u2019 championship. They both recorded 91 winners but were distant runners-up to William Buick<\/a> \u2013 the champion with 66 more wins. \u201cIt sounds great being second,\u201d Doyle says, \u201cbut we were quite far behind and the competition is only going to get tougher. As long as William and Oisin [Murphy] are riding, it\u2019s going to be hard for anyone to beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy won the title last year and, two months into this season, he is streaking ahead on 43 winners, with Buick on 28. Doyle is currently on 15 and she concedes that another tilt at the championship is unlikely this year. \u201cI\u2019m trying, but I haven\u2019t got a lot up my sleeve. There\u2019s not really much I can do right now. You\u2019ve got your connections and one year they might not have a good season. The next year they might have an amazing one and you might fly. It\u2019s not completely out of your hands but you definitely need that big yard behind you.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really lucky I\u2019m attached to [trainer] Archie Watson who has got 100 horses. But Oisin Murphy\u2019s attached to Andrew Balding, William Buick to Charlie Appleby. They have got 300 horses each so it makes a difference. Obviously they\u2019re very good jockeys as well. I\u2019m working hard in the mornings and I physically can\u2019t do any more. I\u2019m just trying to concentrate on riding winners.\u201d<\/p>\n Will Doyle, or any other future female jockey, ever become the stable jockey for a dominant yard? \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say no if the opportunity came about but I don\u2019t know if it would. Probably not. The people that have those jobs now hang around. You can only keep dreaming but I\u2019m happy with what I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n Doyle has had memorable Group One wins, the first of which was on Watson\u2019s Glen Shiel<\/a> on Champions Day in 2020. She also finished third in the BBC\u2019s Sports Personality of the Year<\/a> but it was far sweeter that, the following year, she won the Goodwood Cup on Trueshan and best of all, in 2022, the Prix de Diane [the French Oaks] on Nashwa<\/a>.<\/p>\n Doyle during a rainy Derby day at Epsom on 7 June. Photograph: David Davies\/PA<\/p>\n Doyle craves winning a British Classic but an indication of the odds against her is that she has yet to ride in the Derby \u2013 the race she would most love to win. \u201cObviously as a jockey you want to win the Derby and the Arc and you want to be champion. They\u2019re the three main targets.\u201d<\/p>\n If she could only achieve one of these, Doyle would choose becoming champion jockey. But I wonder if, with none of her connections having produced a Derby ride for her so far, she avoids watching the race? \u201cOh no, I love watching it. It sends tingles down my spine watching someone win the Derby or the Arc. It\u2019s a dream, isn\u2019t it? You can only relate to how they must feel when they\u2019ve won.\u201d<\/p>\n There is no bitterness because Doyle feels huge gratitude to Watson, the trainer who has done so much for her. Watson stood up for Doyle<\/a> when some of his owners didn\u2019t want \u201cthis little girl\u201d riding for them.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wouldn\u2019t directly tell me, but I knew,\u201d Doyle reveals. \u201cI\u2019m not stupid. I can tell when I\u2019m not wanted. I thought: \u2018Whatever. I\u2019ll prove you wrong.\u2019 I suspect I\u2019ve changed a few mindsets since then.\u201d<\/p>\n Doyle was never affected by such antiquated attitudes in the weighing room. \u201cI\u2019ve always got on with everyone, really,\u201d she says with a little smile, \u201cand I\u2019ve always stood up for myself from a young age. You have to stand your ground but hold your hands up when you\u2019re wrong. It\u2019s just the weighing room culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Doyle\u2019s outstanding success it\u2019s still difficult for female jockeys in British racing. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for anyone trying to make it in racing and that\u2019s the same in any sport or any walk of life. I think that because there aren\u2019t as many females riding at a higher level it\u2019s focused on more. But, realistically, if you\u2019re not good enough, you won\u2019t make it. I know in some other disciplines people get promoted because they need to meet the criteria. People say we need a female to do this to make it look like that. In racing it\u2019s decided on pure ability.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n As a schoolgirl Doyle was certain that there was nothing else in life she wanted more than to become a professional jockey. She laughs when I ask her if she was ever offered career guidance by a well-meaning teacher. \u201cNot really. It was a bit of a lost cause. I was kind of stubborn. There was no other option for me. I wanted to be a jockey.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet she was tested when she broke into racing at 16. \u201cI was pretty hard on myself,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI was brought up with tough love rather than being told I was the best in the world. Both of my parents just wanted me to get on with it rather than telling me: \u2018You\u2019re the best thing since sliced bread, you\u2019re amazing.\u2019 Even when I was doing all right, there was none of that. You don\u2019t need all that carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n Doyle, pictured at Sandown racecourse earlier this month, says winning is her job. Photograph: Linda Nylind\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Doyle explains that, \u201cI always knew I could do it, but there was one time where I thought: \u2018Maybe I\u2019m no good?\u2019 I got it in my head a bit too much at one point.\u201d<\/p>\n How did she change? \u201cI started doing weights and going to the gym. It really helped because I realised I am strong and I can do this. And then I just portrayed it on the horse. I wouldn\u2019t change anything now even if, looking back, I had some really tough times. It was probably hardest when I was at Dave Evans\u2019s yard. I was just very young and immature but it\u2019s worked out and I try not to look back too much.\u201d<\/p>\n