'I wanted to curl up and die' - trainer Jo Davis opens up on misogyny in racing

Trainer Jo Davis has laid bare her own shocking experiences of misogyny and mistreatment during her time in racing – with one incident leaving her wanting to "curl up and die".

Wiltshire-based Davis opened up about various incidents involving fellow trainers, an owner, a jockey and member of the media in an explosive blog post on her website on Sunday.

It comes as the sport continues to digest the independent disciplinary panel hearing which resulted in Robbie Dunne being given an 18-month suspension after being found guilty of bullying and harassing fellow rider Bryony Frost.

In the blog post she discussed one particularly distressing incident with an ex-owner, who reportedly had attempted to get into her house and said, 'You can have any horse you want if you sleep with me'.

"He had been an owner for a while," said Davis. "There was always a bit of piss-taking and lewd comments and things but you laugh it off. I’d gone out for dinner with some friends, I was walked back to the house and the owner tried to come in, tried some more, and I said, 'No, f*** off, out'. I was really shaken.

"He said, 'It's about time I told you black and white, you can have any horse you want if you sleep with me'. I just looked at him and my jaw hit the floor.

"I don't know, was I not seeing it? Or was it that I just thought he was an owner and I could deal with it. I genuinely think it was the former. But when you're battling and kicking a pissed owner out of your house, you wonder how you put up with it."

While Davis describes the majority of fellow trainers as "fantastic", she also recalled a disturbing encounter at Stratford around ten years ago.

She reported talking to two trainers, also with runners, in an upcoming race before another entered the room, blocked Davis out of the conversation and said, 'Which one of us is going to win this?' Davis's horse subsequently won the race, while Philip Hobbs was praised for sticking up for the trainer in that moment.

Davis said: "It was the absolute disdain I remember, those things have happened through the years. I've had the most horrendous few years and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

"It was horrible, it made me want to curl up and die. I still have the picture in my head. It's the female-male trainer thing; don't get me wrong, the majority are fantastic and they treat you as equal, but you still do get the odd one. I don't know for sure if it was because I was a female or insignificant in size."

Bryony Frost: case against Robbie Dunne underlines how much progress still needs to be made, says Jo DavisCredit: Edward Whitaker

Other harrowing personal experiences recounted in the blog post include a trainer and member of the press shouting profanities across a busy pub on separate occasions and a jockey flirting with her in 2006 when she was relaying pre-race instructions.

She said: "I remember having a runner in a Flat race at Southwell, a cocky small jockey came swaggering into the parade ring, I tried to give him his instructions and all he wanted to do was flirt, he didn't listen to a word I said.

"I also remember being in the pub one night and a certain trainer at the time said, 'I wanna f*** you' very loudly, oh how we laughed . . .

"In another pub someone in the media said exactly the same. I laughed in his face and I barely get a hello from him now."

Davis also detailed her own difficulties in the weighing room environment and stressed how unpleasant that period was.

"When I race-rode for the first time I had the jibes and the piss-taking in the weighing room, it was a horrid experience," she said. "I grew up with a fairly handy father, a brother who didn't take any s***, I worked in pubs and nightclubs in London and no-one messed with me, however racing was different."

Davis, who saddled her first winner in 2004, believes the industry has taken a marked step in the right direction since those days but feels the treatment of Frost underlines how things must continue to progress.

"I think it's improved massively, look at the girls riding now and doing a brilliant job," she said. "I remember a time when people wouldn't put girls up at all.

PJA chief accepts Bryony Frost was bullied rather than 'felt bullied'

"I wanted to speak out for anyone, young kids or people feeling in judgement who haven’t thought about it from another perspective. I think if I was in my twenties I might have been one of those people saying, 'Bryony, get a hold of yourself'. But it's amazing how you change as you grow up and have a child of your own.

"As a parent you see it differently, I'm a lot more sensitive now and, maybe it's a knee-jerk reaction, I don't want her growing up in the world as it's perceived to be at the moment."

She added: "I look back and it's been tough. At the time you think that's just life and that happens. I grew up with an incredibly violent family and it was a bit of a violent childhood so I got used to that sort of behaviour, but actually, what's happened, it's just not good enough.

"I now think, 'You're an absolute idiot' for thinking what you thought. I'm sharp, I wonder how many people go through this and don't see it, then get into a situation they can't get themselves out of."

A BHA spokesman responded to Davis' post, saying: "We want anyone who has been on the receiving end of, or witnessed, inappropriate conduct to come forward and speak to the BHA. You can do that either by contacting the BHA directly or via the sport's confidential RaceWISE reporting line."

For RaceWISE, phone 0800 085 2580, or access it online here.

Read more:

BHA integrity boss Tim Naylor urges calm over 'inflamed tempers'

Ruby Walsh: 'At times somebody has to tell someone else to sit down and shut up'

BHA chief rejects 'rancid' picture of weighing room but says racing must change

'Absolute disgrace' – jockeys' body slams BHA over weighing room claims

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