Was 2019 the year female jockeys finally put a crack in the glass ceiling?

It has been a big year for female jockeys with major successes everywhere you look.

From Rachael Blackmore being the joint most successful rider in Grade 1s this season with three top level victories this month, to Hollie Doyle’s recent record-breaking, Khadijah Mellah’s heroics, Hayley Turner becoming just the second woman to ride a Royal Ascot winner – 32 years after the first – and Blackmore, Bryony Frost and Lizzie Kelly’s four successes at the Cheltenham Festival, women have excelled throughout 2019.

The hope is it has also been a pivotal year – the year women finally stop being seen as female jockeys who are good and begin to be viewed as good jockeys who happen to be female.