Khadijah Mellah (born 2000) was the first

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

-wearing jockey in a competitive British horse race. Despite being new to horse-racing, she won the Magnolia Cup on her mount Haverland. Mellah's story was the subject of the TV documentary ''Riding the Dream'' first broadcast on 16 November 2019.

Background

Mellah was born in

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

, the daughter of Ali Mellah and his wife, Selma. Her parents were, respectively, from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Mellah was always keen to ride, and her mother saw a leaflet in the local mosque offering riding (mainly ponies) at the Ebony Horse Club in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

; she started riding in 2012. Followed by a camera crew she began riding a thoroughbred horse in April 2019. She was also sitting her A-levels at

Sydenham High School Sydenham High School is an independent school for 4- to 18-year-old girls located in London, England. Sydenham High School was founded by the Girls’ Public Day School Trust in 1887. Since then, the original school roll of 20 pupils has grown ...

at this time. The documentary makers had no idea that she would win the race; the documentary was primarily aimed at showing the diversity of activities available to disadvantaged communities in London. Mellah was chosen to represent the club at a charity race. She had to undertake two months of intensive training at the

British Racing School The British Racing School is one of the two racing schools in the United Kingdom. Established in 1983, it is a charitable trust providing training for young people working in the horse racing industry. The school is based in Newmarket, Suffolk, an ...

, at Newmarket. This included ensuring her own physical fitness and bonding with the horse. The race, the Magnolia Cup, is an all-women charity race. It was held on 1 August 2019 at

Goodwood racecourse Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House. It hosts the annual Glorious Goodwood meeting in lat ...

. Before the race started, the odds on Haverland were 25:1. Mellah was both the youngest and by far the least-experienced jockey of the 12-strong field, who included

Victoria Pendleton Victoria Louise Pendleton, (born 24 September 1980) is a British jockey and former track cyclist who specialised in the sprint, team sprint and keirin disciplines. She is a former Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion. With two ...

Luisa Zissman Luisa Christina Zissman (born Louisa Christina Kalozois; 4 June 1987) is an English retail entrepreneur and reality television personality. She was the runner-up on the ninth series of ''The Apprentice'' and finished fourth on ''Celebrity Big ...

and

Vogue Williams Vogue Williams (born 2 October 1985) is an Irish model and media personality, known for participating in ''Dancing with the Stars'' and '' Stepping Out'' and for winning the 2015 series of '' Bear Grylls: Mission Survive''. Early life and educ ...

. The 5.5-furlong race saw Haverland boxed-in mid-way, but with two furlongs to go an opening appeared to the left and Haverland was guided past the four leading horses to a

photo-finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...

. Around 15 seconds later Haverland was declared the winner. Mellah received applause in the winners enclosure. Mellah, who was studying for her A-levels at the beginning of the ordeal, is now studying Mechanical Engineering at

Brighton University The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...

. In November 2019 she won The Times Young Sportswoman of the Year for her achievements.She also often enjoys reading dystopian thrillers, it is one of her ways of reliving stress.

Filming

The drama of the event was hugely enhanced by the "jockey's eye view" afforded by helmet-mounted

dashcam A dashboard camera or simply dashcam, also known as car digital video recorder (car DVR), driving recorder, or event data recorder (EDR), is an onboard camera that continuously records the view through a vehicle's front windscreen and sometimes ...

s on all riders in the race. This film footage also records Mellah's emotional words as she realises she is going to win.''Riding the Dream'', STV documentary, aired 16.11.2019 The documentary premièred at the

Ritzy Cinema The Ritzy is a cinema in Brixton, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building. It is managed by Picturehouse Cinemas, who were bought by Cineworld in 2012. The cinema opened on 11 March 1911 as "the Electric Pavilion". It was built by E ...

, with Mellah, the club patron Oliver Bell and

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

as guests, prior to its TV screening.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellah, Khadijah 2001 births British jockeys British Muslims Living people People educated at Sydenham High School