Mowbray Racecourse will host the inaugural Australian Female Jockeys Championship on Wednesday, March 7, on the eve of International Women’s Day, and in a second show of racing girl power, four days later the inaugural Australian Female Drivers Championship will be held at the same venue.
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In a sport that is one day predicted to have more female riders than male riders, women are continuing to break through more than physical barriers.
The female jockey lineup for the Jockeys Championship has just been finalised and will include Siggy Carr (Tas), Clare Lindop, Raquel Clark (SA), Lucy Warwick, Jerry Noski (WA), Lucinda Doodt, Jessica Eaton (Vic), Winona Costin, Rachael Murray (NSW) Alannah Fancourt (Qld) and Felicia Bergstrand (NT).
Replacements are still to be found for Georgie Catania (Tas) and Tiffani Brooker (Qld) who are both injured.
The female drivers’ lineup includes big names Kerryn Manning, Kate Gath, Danielle Hill and Amanda Turnbull, with Natalee Emery and Kristy Grant flying the local flag.
Both championships will be decided on a points basis over multiple races and both will carry prizemoney of $5000, $1000 and $500 for the three placegetters.
- This feature story is supported by Tas Racing
The race meeting on Wednesday extends the 2018 Sky Racing Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival from its traditional finale of Launceston Cup Day, held yesterday, so there’s plenty of opportunity to get trackside and take in the excitement.
The drivers’ championship, also in Launceston, on Sunday, March 11, will feature 12 drivers from around Australia (two from each state) wearing teal pants on the final night of Team Teal 2018 which raises funds for ovarian cancer research and awareness. The drivers the event has attracted are world-class and will provide a real demonstration of the influence of women in the harness code, Tasracing chief executive officer Vaughn Lynch said.
Drivers travelling to Tasmania for the competition include Victoria’s Kerryn Manning and Kate Gath as well as Queensland’s Narissa McMullen. Tasmania will be represented by Natalee Emery and Kristy Grant.
Mr Lynch said while he was very pleased to see mainstream sports recognising female participation, this was something the racing industry had practised for many years.
“Racing has led the way in enabling females to compete equally with males,” he said.
“The opportunity to celebrate and promote the achievements of the country’s best jockeys and harness drivers in the same city and state within five days of each other is a unique and important one.”