Grand National Ladies

Nina Carberry, born on 21st July, 1984, comes from a famous Irish racing family. Rumour has it that the Carberry children (like their great friends the Walshes) are taught to ride before they can walk, and that’s probably not a joke. Her father Tommy rode the 1975 Grand National winner L’Escargot, subsequently training Bobbyjo for

A talented professional jockey, 24-year-old Tarnya Davis reached Becher’s on the second circuit before pulling up 100/1 chance Numerate in the 1989 renewal. Numerate was bought 48 hours before the big race by Tarnya’s father, Peter, from trainer Oliver Sherwood. She was a jockey for 10 years, partnering 47 winners under Rules, and married Sherwood in October, 1993. They have two children,

A Worcestershire lass, Jacqui Oliver still lives in the shadow of the Malvern Hills. She began riding from a young age and was soon competing in point-to-point and novice events. She spent some time in Ireland working as a Secretary, but riding in her spare time. Her father was the well respected Henry Oliver and

Grand National runners trained by women do not these days raise an eyebrow, but it’s only a generation ago that things were very different. The 30-year fight by the redoubtable Florence Nagle and her peers to train in their own right only saw victory in the summer of 1966 following a famous court case; before

Like most horse-mad little girls back in the 1950s, Jenny Pitman’s awareness of the great race dawned when watching the film National Velvet, in which a teenage girl played by the ravishing Elizabeth Taylor has to pretend to be a boy to ride the horse she has saved from the knacker’s yard and trained for

One of the best female riders of her generation, Gee Armytage had been victorious twice at the Cheltenham Festival before partnering the aptly named Gee-A in the 1988 Grand National. Gee-A was still going well on the second circuit before being pulled up before the 26th fence by his 22-year-old rider after she strained a muscle in her

Around 20 years ago, Sarah Swindells enjoyed riding as a point to point jockey in her spare time, as did her younger sister Katharine. The horses they rode were owned and trained by their father John on his farm in Cheshire – he and his wife Romy had also been point to point jockeys in