'If I didn’t have ADHD I wouldn’t be a professional jockey' - Lilly Pinchin opens up on condition in new documentary

Rising star of the saddle Lilly Pinchin is hoping a warts-and-all documentary following her throughout last season as she rode out her claim will help inspire anyone in the next generation of riders who, like her, suffers from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The 26-year-old professional jockey opens up about the developmental disorder which led to her dropping out of school at 15 to pursue a career as a jockey.

ADHD has had a huge impact on Pinchin’s life and she has to take medication daily to help her manage the condition, but instead of inhibiting her career she is convinced if she didn’t have ADHD she would not have made it as a professional jockey.

“Racing and riding horses is the thing which keeps me so focused,” she said. “The horses are so precious to me and why this documentary is so important to me is because it shows whatever you have you can pursue your dreams and do whatever you want if you work hard.

“I’ve ridden out my claim and become a professional jockey because I put all of my energy into it. If I didn’t have ADHD I wouldn’t be a professional jockey, there’s no buts about it.

“It makes me so driven. I don’t chill out on the sofa on a Sunday, I’ll go and ride out for free. I want to do well, I want to please, normal people would work out if it was worth it whereas someone with ADHD, I want to do it and I’ve got to do it. I care so much.”

Lilly Pinchin: a rising star of the weighing roomCredit: Edward Whitaker

Pinchin has chosen now to go public about her condition in the hope she can inspire the next generation and added: “When I was 18-20, I didn’t want anyone to know because I was scared what owners, trainers and other people would think. I didn’t want to jeopardise my career.

“Now I’m 26 and I’ve proved I’m capable of becoming a professional jockey. There’s no documentary out there which shows someone living with a mental condition and I want to show boys and girls, women and men you can do whatever you want to do.

“Hopefully it can inspire anyone who wants to get into racing. I wouldn’t be where I am and have the life I have without racing. I’ve an amazing job and it shows the sport in such a good light and we’d love to show off the sport as well as my ADHD.”

The documentary, called A Racing Mind and due out later this month or early March, was made by director Louis Gill, producer Pete Moore and editor Billie Jones of the Cotswold Film Company. The 30-year-old Gill, who has known Pinchin since her point-to-pointing days, said: “This is the first longer-form documentary we’ve made.

“Initially, it’ll be four 10-20 minute episodes, but the longer-term dream is that it would make a perfect one-hour documentary.

“I’d love to try to get a broadcaster interested in showing this, or get the broadcast rights to put it on something like Amazon. We’re not interested in making money out of it, we just want it to be seen and we just want people to be inspired by it.

“It’s got the potential to go on a channel or streaming platform to be seen by people outside the racing world.”

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