Cathy Gannon

she did what any punter would have hoped for from their jockey in that race.. Got out held the rail at all costs. Made the rest (what on earth was Sanders doing out there) look a little dim witted.

better than turnip in my book

she is in the top 100. and easily.

anyone know how flat jockeys there are in the UK?

Not in the top hundred ?
She was in the top two dozen  before she had her bad injury-that's what really stalled her career which had been on a constant upward curve to that point.
Still a considerable prejudice against female jockeys....not as much as used to be but still there.

wished she wipe the floor with that trollop turner

approx 130 pro jockeys in the uk.

Is it true that shes going to race a penguin..................

Rosie Napravnik was pretty good but she is raising a family for the moment.
Not really seen Gannon since she came back but she certainly was in the top 50 in GB. So was Hayley but for whatever reason she DOES seem to have lost it.

Watched her at lingfield last night , nothing special

Cathy Gannon didn't have a ride at Ascot and rightly so . Very very ordinary rider, a journeywoman who is more suited to riding at the gaffes. There's no woman riding even remotely near good enough to ride anything with a chance at Ascot. There are plenty big name male jocks who are hardly up to it, not to mind Gannon. People like Atzeni for example made a show of themselves there.

On masterchef maybe, or strictly even. Not on horses she doesn't

I am very surprised to see that everyday sexism is alive and well on the betfair forum.

could not disagree more. Women are riding at their natural weight and therefore should be just
as strong in a finish.

There's no difference in riding a horse in a selling handicap and riding in a Group race
Jockeys themselves have stated as much but common sense would tell us that anyway.
The only difference is outside the race riding arena-with the media magnifying everything to the nth degree. I've observed the whole scene for decades and the imbalance and the contradictions are manifest.
Moore wins on War Envoy in the full glare of publicity and the hype machine churns out superlatives. Gannon wins on Silverrica and its just a workaday ride by a journeyman on a quiet evening at a gaffe. Moore loses in photos on Found and Ballydoyle and that's fine -if Gannon loses in a photo people proclaim that she isn't 'strong enough'. The dice is completely loaded and people accept as fact  their own predisposition which has no measurable evidential basis.
The same applies to many jockeys who just get the crumbs that fall from the table of the fortunate few -I only mention Cathy Gannon because I've followed her career with interest ...she being a woman from a working class background in Dublin trying to make a go of it in England. She has done well and many people have been good to her-I'm not denying that at all.
She,and others,could do so much better if given the chance. She has had two rides in pattern races -and won on both-a Gr.3 on Dingle Bay(in a photo) and a Listed race for Sir Michael Stoute.
The classic illustration of the nonsense about 'Group race jockeys' is Hayley Turner and Dream Ahead on whom she won a Gr 1 -as a third choice jockey.
There's no such thing as a Group Race jockey -there's only jockeys riding horses who don't know
what kind of race they're running in....same stalls, same tracks, same equipment, same  pace issues ,same good/bad luck etc. All that's different is the prize money and the slanted sycophantic media coverage frenzy.

poor jockeys stay on poor horses

Indeed, see Mr Dettori for evidence of that.

THE STOPPER 21 Jun 15 13:54

watch the replay on babyfact, and winning on a 7/4 fav doesnt make her great, just normal , john Egan looked special on his winner, watch that.



Nothing at all wrong with the ride on 12/1 shot babyfact.

2nd (4)     3½     6 Babyfact     M S Saunders     4     8-2     Catherine Gannon     12/1
Chased leaders, ridden and outpaced over 2f out, stayed on under pressure over 1f out, went 2nd inside final furlong, no impression with winner opened 10/1

Some very good points made by Vubiant here, but it will be another decade probably before the penny drops and UK and Irish racing accept the fact that male jockeys do not have any significant biological advantages over their female counterparts. All this rot spoken about strength in the saddle is just exactly that, a load of rot. What obvious strength or power advantage does William Buick have over Cathy Gannon for example? Absolutely zero. It's more about empathy, technique, ability to keep a horse balanced, having a good tactical brain etc. No reason, given the opportunities Gannon has lacked, there shouldn't be more top female riders. As seems to have been happening in the States for the past few years, so the same will happen here in due course, just a much longer process.