Michele Sherren

Had she been around in modern times there is little doubt that Canadian-born jump jockey Michele Sherren would have enjoyed far greater success. However, she arrived on the scene not long after Lorna Vincent had broken the ice, at a time when female professional jockeys were still considered a novelty and struggled to achieve a meaningful degree of success.

Michele Kirsten Bornet Sherren hailed from Hamilton, Ontario. She was visiting Wells, in Somerset, in 1977 when she asked local dual-purpose trainer Ian Wardle for a job.

Aged 22, she was granted a conditional jockey’s licence and made her British riding debut when finishing fourth on 12-year-old Harsh Note in an opportunity selling handicap hurdle at Devon & Exeter on 28 September 1979. She finished sixth on that same horse in a similar contest at Newton Abbot on 17 October.

Following those two unsuccessful attempts, she rode her first winner on her third ride in public on 11-1 chance Sandra Bella, trained by Ian Wardle, in the Corfe Opportunity Handicap Hurdle at Taunton on 6 December 1979. Never far off the leaders, Michele brought Sandra Bella to challenge the leader Richmead at the final flight. Pulling her whip through, she drove Sandra Bella clear on the run-in to score by five lengths.

Later that month, she steered the Wardle-trained Super Selected to victory in a Newton Abbot novice hurdle on Boxing Day. The combination won again over the same course in January.

She notched her fourth success on another Wardle-trainer runner, Balloni, in the Davidson Challenge Cup Opportunity Handicap Hurdle at Uttoxeter in March 1980.

The 1980/81 season was a disappointment, resulting in just one winner, a second and a third from only eleven rides, her sole success coming on Sandra Bella in the Jim Slater Opportunity Handicap Hurdle at Stratford on the penultimate day of the season.

Michele held a conditional jockey’s licence for the next two seasons but did not ride a winner. She had just four rides during the 1983/84 campaign, two of them winning ones. The first was achieved in bloodless fashion, walking over on Ian Wardle’s Rosa Ruler for the Snow Hill Handicap Hurdle at Ascot on 19 November 1983.

Her second – and last – victory that season was scarcely more competitive, coming home 20 lengths clear of the only other finisher on Blonde Bombshell in the three-runner Holiday Novices’ Hurdle at Plumpton on Easter Monday, 23 April 1984, on ground officially described as hard.

‘Hard’ was how it proved for women jump jockeys to break through in those days. The thought of one becoming champion conditional, as did Lucy Alexander, or winning a Champion Hurdle, Gold Cup, or Grand National, as per Rachael Blackmore, would have been considered ludicrous in the extreme. That’s a shame, for while the standard of jockeyship has risen well above what it was 40 years ago, Michele Sherren was among the most stylish of her era and, in that way, was ahead of her time.

Michele Sherren’s British winners were, in chronological order:

1. Sandra Bella, Taunton, 6 December 1979

2. Super Selected, Newton Abbot, 26 December 1979

3. Super Selected, Newton Abbot, 17 January 1980

4. Balloni, Uttoxeter, 15 March 1980

5. Sandra Bella, Stratford-on-Avon, 29 May 1981

6. Rosa Ruler, Ascot, 19 November 1983

7. Blonde Bombshell, Plumpton, 23 April 1984