'People wanted me to get buried' - meet the festival's first ever women jockeys

Festival Legends: Jenny Stamp and GC Gillian

From modern-day celebrities Rachael Blackmore and Bryony Frost, there is a line of achievement at the Cheltenham Festival which stretches back to the likes of Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh, to Gee Armytage and Caroline Beasley. And that line stretches further still. This is about the women who initiated it.

With the Sex Discrimination Act passed late in 1975, the Jockey Club announced on January 20, 1976 that women could apply for professional and amateur licences to ride over jumps, and one week later, with Colonel Piers Bengough and Major Ewan Cameron interviewing candidates, the first four were issued.

The first was to Sue Horton and, hitting a note which some coverage would pursue for many years afterwards, the Daily Telegraph described her as "leading point-to-point rider among the ladies five times. An extremely pretty blonde, she rides almost as short as Andy Turnell and will add a touch of style to the hunter chase scene".