'I put all my eggs in one basket and I had no-one when I left - I was just riding everywhere and anywhere'

In its 245-year history, only three women have ridden in the Derby. There was a time when it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Josephine Gordon would be the fourth. 

Indeed, Gordon declared her intent to win the Classic just a year after Ana O'Brien partnered The Anvil in 2017, and the ambition seemed a natural progression for what had already been a dazzling start to her career, with the apprentice title in 2016 followed by a maiden century the next year.

Yet the life of a jockey is rarely smooth sailing and six years later things have not panned out as Gordon would have hoped. Her numbers have dwindled and dreams of Epsom's biggest event have been replaced by the rainy reality of a midweek meeting at Brighton.