Sportswoman award tops an incredible year for jockey Hollie Doyle

Sam Richards
Authored by Sam Richards
Posted Wednesday, December 2, 2020 - 9:31pm

As 2020 draws to a close, not many people will look back over the last 12 months with fond memories. However, that isn’t the case for everybody, especially those in the sporting world, who may have won personal accolades or competitions as a team over the course of the last year.

One person who will certainly remember 2020 is flat racing jockey Hollie Doyle. The 24-year-old has had an incredible year and she was recently named the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.

"To have won it is a massive privilege and it feels incredible," said Doyle.

"Seeing my name compared to the previous winners of the award - the likes of Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and Dame Kelly Holmes - is pretty crazy and very humbling."

Doyle beat the likes of Lizzie Deignan (cyclist), Jessica Learmonth (triathlete), Fallon Sherrock (darts) and Georgia Taylor-Brown (triathlete) to the award, and thoroughly deserved the accolade given the year that she has had.

Despite a shortened flat season, due to the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the sports calendar, Doyle still managed to rack up an impressive 120 victories, breaking her own record for the numbers of winners ridden by a British woman in a single season (116), which she set last year

The 24-year-old achieved the impressive feat of 120 wins in just 776 races, smashing her total of 116 wins in 819 outings last season, and finished an impressive fourth place in the Flat jockeys’ championship, behind her boyfriend Tom Marquand, William Buick and Oisin Murphy.

It was a year of milestones for Doyle, as Scarlet Dragon’s triumph in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes landed the 24-year-old her first win at the Royal Ascot festival, before a record-breaking two wins with Trueshan and 16/1 outsider Glen Shiel on the same day, later in the meeting, whilst on board Dame Malliot in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket she achieved her first Group Two victory.

Doyle followed up her wins at Ascot and Newmarket by winning four times at Wolverhampton in July, before she smashed another record in August, becoming the first female jockey to win five races on the same card at Windsor.

The Hertfordshire-raised jockey rode 3/1 favourite Indian Creak in the first race of the meeting, before successive triumphs onboard Sur Mer, Le Don De Vir, Extra Elusive and Mistress Nellie.

If you’d have staked £1 on the five successive victories in the bet exchange, you would have pocketed yourself a whopping £899 profit.

Doyle admitted afterwards that it took some time for the incredible feat to sink in. "Looking back on it now, I realise how big an achievement it was," she said.  "At the time I probably didn't. It is weird at the moment, riding with no crowds and no atmosphere, so that probably was why I didn't really take it in that much.

"It was a great day, for five different trainers as well."

Her unbelievable year continued at Ascot in October, as she enjoyed a Champions Day double at the prestigious meeting and scooped her first victory at Group One level.

Back in Glen Shiel’s saddle, the pair held on by nothing more than a nose to win the British Champions Sprint, along with her inaugural Group One triumph, Doyle became the first female rider to win on the historic British Champions Day.

The 24-year-old is more than a worthy recipient of the Sportswomen of the Year award, she will undoubtedly be the inspiration behind the future generation of female jockeys, and here’s to many victories to come!

 

 

 

 

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