Diane Lorna Clay was the daughter of Staffordshire trainer William (Bill) Clay. She succeeded her brother Neil as her father’s stable jockey. Neil rode around 100 winners over jumps and Diane did likewise between 1985 and 1996.
Diane rode almost exclusively for her father and had very few outside rides. She scored her first victory on Hawaiian Heir in the Fred Archer Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at Bangor-on-Dee on August 17, 1985. Surprisingly, given how early it was in the new season, that was her only winner of the entire campaign.
Her first notable win came on Hill Beagle in the Garrick Jubilee Challenge Cup Hurdle at Stratford on September 3, 1988. From then on, her winning tallies steadily rose, bolstered by the introduction of all-weather hurdle racing in the early 1990s.
She made a disastrous start to the 1992/93 campaign, suffering a broken leg when her mount Johnstead slipped up on the flat at Bangor-on-Dee on the opening day of the season. But she was back in action within three months and went on to record 19 winners for the season, all trained by her father. They included a hat-trick at Southwell on March 10, 1993, winning the first three races on the card on Court Circular, Johnstead and Northern Nation.
Diane won seven hurdle races altogether on Court Circular, six on Southwell’s Fibresand surface and one on turf. She also had the thrill of riding at the Cheltenham Festival on Captain My Captain, a rank outsider who beat one home in the 1993 Sun Alliance Hurdle.
Diane rode 17 winners in the 1993/94 season, again all for her father, which included a double at their local track, Uttoxeter, on Test Match and Eastern Pleasure. Her score fell to seven in 1994/95. She retired at the end of the following season due to being plagued by a persistent back injury.
In addition to being a successful National Hunt jockey she was also a World Champion Body Builder.
