The accidental feminist at the forefront of a golden generation of women

There was Emmeline Pankhurst, of course, who started the whole thing off while chained to a railing; although before her there was Mary Wollstonecraft and after her Amelia Earhart and Simone de Beauvoir, all of whom chipped in. Nancy Astor, Marie Curie and Benazir Bhutto; Amy Johnson, Ada Lovelace and Germaine Greer; Hayley Turner is beginning to spot where this interview is going.

"I hope it's not going to be all about that," she grumbles, briefly distracted from the joys of her egg and bacon sandwich and perusal of tonight's card at Kempton Park. Perhaps breakfast time is too early to be pondering one's place in the hierarchy of ground-breaking feminist icons, or perhaps any time would be too early.

Turner may not be a pioneer as such, given that Gay Kelleway preceded her in 1987, but she has just become the first woman in 32 years to ride a winner at Royal Ascot, which must count for something, you'd think. Even the best-managed of egos might permit itself a brief spell of satisfaction at having struck this latest small blow for the sisterhood, but if there was such a spell, it was very brief indeed and has since been replaced by a sense of mild discomfort at being singled out for attention ahead of those who rode the other 29 winners at the big meeting – all of them men but none the worse for that.