Josephine Gordon (born 16 May 1993) is a British

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

who competes in

Flat racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

. In 2016 Gordon won the

British flat racing Champion Apprentice The flat racing Champion Jockey and Champion Apprentice titles are awarded annually to the jockey(s) and apprentice(s) respectively that have ridden the most winners (both turf and all-weather) in Great Britain during a set period or championship ...

title, becoming only the third female jockey to win that title after

Hayley Turner Hayley Turner (born 3 January 1983) is an English jockey who competes in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she is based in Newmarket. In 2008 Turner became the first woman to ride 100 UK flat race winners during a calendar year. She ...

and Amy Ryan. Gordon began her association with horses at her mother's

livery stable A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

but her early jockey career saw a period of 18 months between her first and second winners. She worked with retired jockey John Reid as a coach and became apprentice jockey at the stable of trainer Stan Moore. Her second winner came in June 2015 and she progressed to ride more than 70 winners in 2016, including 50 in the apprentice championship. She has also ridden for major trainers

Sir Michael Stoute Sir Michael Ronald Stoute (born 22 October 1945) is a Barbadian British Thoroughbred horse trainer in flat racing. Career Stoute, whose father was the Chief of Police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assis ...

and Hugo Palmer. Shortly after clinching her title she was given a first ride by the

Godolphin Racing Godolphin (Arabic: جودلفين) is the Maktoum family's private Thoroughbred horseracing stable and was named in honour of the Godolphin Arabian, who came from the desert to become one of the three founding stallions of the modern Thoroug ...

organisation. In December 2016 Gordon was honoured twice at the annual

Lester Award __NOTOC__ A Lester Award is one of a range of awards given to jockeys at an annual ceremony in Great Britain. The awards are named in honour of Lester Piggott, an eleven-time British flat racing Champion Jockey who won thirty British Classic Races ...

s, receiving the awards for Apprentice of the Year and Lady Jockey of the Year. In 2017, she won her first big handicap race, the Victoria Cup at Ascot for William Haggas. Gordon rode her first

group race Group races, also known as Pattern races, or Graded races in some jurisdictions, are the highest level of races in Thoroughbred horse racing. They include most of the world's iconic races, such as, in Europe, the Derby, Irish Derby and Prix de l'A ...

winner when Koropick won the

Chipchase Stakes The Chipchase Stakes is a Group races, Group 3 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newcastle Racecourse, Newcastle over a dista ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in July 2017. She followed it up with a second Group 3 win for Hugo Palmer in the

Princess Royal Stakes The Princess Royal Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres) on the Rowley M ...

on Apphia on 29 September. She beat her 2016 total of winners and finished 24th in the jockeys' championship. In November she rode her 100th winner of the year, becoming the second female jockey to reach this milestone after Hayley Turner in 2008.

References

Living people British jockeys British female jockeys 1993 births Lester Award winners British Champion apprentice jockeys {{UK-horseracing-bio-stub