Female jockeys at Ascot Racecourse will now be able to benefit from a major facilities upgrade unveiled at the opening day of the Ascot Racing Carnival on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The $725,000 project has delivered a new, purpose-built changeroom designed to accommodate up to 20 female riders at one time.<\/p>\n
Construction began for the project in May after the end of the 2024-25 racing season, with the WA Jockeys Association closely involved in the consultation and design process to ensure the facilities meet the needs of female riders.<\/p>\n
Racing and Gaming Minister Paul Papalia said women were now at the forefront of the WA thoroughbred racing industry as jockeys, trainers, breeders, stewards and administrators.<\/p>\n
\u201cRacing is the only elite sport where women and men compete directly with each other for the same prizemoney,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a priority for the WA Government that we continue to invest in initiatives that facilitate female participation in racing, including upgrades to facilities for female jockeys.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new female changerooms at Ascot Racecourse will help address the increasing demand for further capacity now and into the future and support the long-term sustainability of the racing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Racing and Wagering WA CEO Ian Edwards said with women comprising almost half of WA\u2019s riding ranks, the investment supported their comfort and wellbeing, providing a more \u201cinclusive\u201d sport for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe participation of women in racing has grown significantly, and Racing WA is proud to support this positive change through investment in facilities that reflect the needs of today\u2019s industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Perth Racing chair Carol Adams said the project was an \u201cessential upgrade\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new facilities not only recognise the increasing number of female jockeys competing at the highest level in WA thoroughbred racing, but better reflect their position and needs as elite athletes at the very top of their profession,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Women now make up almost half of WA\u2019s 58 licensed jockeys, while 30 per cent of the State\u2019s 381 licensed thoroughbred trainers are women.<\/p>\n
All six of the jockeys accepted into this year\u2019s Racing WA\u2019s Apprentice Jockey Training Program are women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Female jockeys at Ascot Racecourse will now be able to benefit from a major facilities upgrade unveiled at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[7476,568,1071,133944,79,16,15,29592],"class_list":{"0":"post-502159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-central","9":"tag-perth","10":"tag-racing","11":"tag-southern","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wa-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115379645096246827","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}