 Turner scored her 100th winner on the penultimate day of the year |
Jockey Hayley Turner became the first woman to ride 100 winners in a calendar year when 7-1 shot Mullitovermaurice claimed victory at Wolverhampton. Turner, 25, notched her 99th winner on Tuesday afternoon at Lingfield when she won on the 5-4 favourite Newlyn Art. She missed out in the opener at Wolverhampton on Tuesday evening. But she made amends on her next mount Mullitovermaurice, challenging for the lead from the start and holding off the fast-finishing Betws Y Coed by a neck. Riding under floodlights in Bet At ladbrokes.com claiming stakes over an extended mile in freezing conditions, Turner saw her mount drift across the track in the straight.  | 606: DEBATE |
The James Given-trained runner appeared to interfere with Special Bond, but the stewards chose not to call an enquiry, leaving Turner to reach a huge personal milestone. The Nottinghamshire jockey has enjoyed high-profile winners at a string of big meetings, easily surpassing her target of 70 winners. She told At The Races: "It's brilliant, I'm really pleased and glad I did it tonight so I don't have to worry about tomorrow. My agent's done a fantastic job for me, he was always insistent I was going to do it. I'm thrilled, absolutely delighted." Turner also paid credit to trainer Michael Bell, who had given her encouragement as an apprentice jockey. She added: "When I started as an apprentice it was difficult for him to get me onto certain owners' horses with them not wanting a girl up. Everything's happened very gradually for me. Hopefully it's going to snowball next year and I can ride some better quality horses in some bigger races."
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