Linda Sheedy

Welsh-born Amateur rider Linda Sheedy was the first woman to ride in the Cheltenham Gold Cup when partnering 500/1 no-hoper Foxbury in 1984. She was also just the third woman to take part in the Grand National.

She rode a total of a dozen winners under National Hunt rules, all of them owned and trained by her permit holder husband Roy Sheedy near Newport, in Gwent. The first of those was Miss Retinue in the three-mile Droitwich Handicap Chase at Worcester on September 3, 1980. Her second was gained on the former Fred Rimell inmate Royal Gaye in the Ernest Robinson Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year’s Eve 1980. She had ridden just those two winners when riding 100/1 shot Deiopea in the 1981 Grand National. While Aldaniti and Bob Champion galloped on to immortality, Mrs Sheedy was making her way back, having been well behind when being hampered and refusing at the nineteenth fence.

She rode four winners during the 1981/82 season, most notably Cheltenham’s Postlip Chase and Kempton’s Fairmile Novices’ Handicap Chase, both on Foxbury. The other two came courtesy of a hurdler named Culham, at Chepstow’s Easter meeting and at Hereford on Whit Monday. Culham returned to Hereford three months later to become the first of three winners for Linda’s in the 1982/83 campaign.

She rode three more winners during the 1983/84 season, the last of them on Foxbury in the 3m 1f Green Dragon Handicap Chase at Hereford on January 13, 1984. She rode Foxbury in that year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, pulling up before the thirteenth fence when tailed off.

She had one of her last rides under National Hunt rules when pulling up on Henley Fair at Hereford on October 5, 1984.

Linda married Mr Griffiths in 2002: they moved to Abergavenny where they ran a farm

Linda Sheedy died in Nevill Hall Hospital in her home town of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, on March 1, 2010, at the age of 57 after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

She left behind twin sons, Carl and Nicholas.

Her funeral was held at St Mary’s Church, Abergavenny, ten days later.

Linda Sheedy’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Miss Retinue, Worcester, September 3, 1980

2. Royal Gaye, Cheltenham, December 31, 1980.

3. Foxbury, Cheltenham, October 7, 1981

4. Foxbury, Kempton Park, February 5, 1982

5. Culham, Chepstow, April 13, 1982

6. Culham, Hereford, May 31, 1982

7. Culham, Hereford, August 21, 1982

8. Glitter Boy, Warwick, September 18, 1982

9. Glitter Boy, Taunton, October 14, 1982

10. Henley Fair, Newton Abbot, September 9, 1983

11. Royal Gaye, Worcester, September 10, 1983

12. Foxbury, Hereford, January 13, 1984