Hollie Doyle continued to take the headlines as she secured her 150th winner of 2020 aboard Darwell Lion at Lingfield.
Record-breaking Doyle capped her remarkable year by finishing third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year poll on Sunday and reached her latest milestone two days later with a clear-cut victory on Ellmarie Holden’s Irish challenger.
The two-year-old was a 4-1 shot for his racecourse debut in the Play Ladbrokes 5-A-Side On Football EBF Novice Stakes and overcame signs of inexperience to power down the outside and score nicely by a length from La Tihaty.
Doyle told Sky Sports Racing: “It’s great to get to 150. To get the 100 up was a relief, but to get 150 is different class – I didn’t think it would happen this year.”
Doyle had already surpassed her own record tally for the most winners in a calendar year by a female jockey, set in 2019 – and pulled off a brilliant Champions Day double at Ascot in October, including her first Group One aboard Glen Shiel in the British Champions Sprint.
The 24-year-old also claimed her first Royal Ascot success on Scarlet Dragon, and rode fives winners on a card at Windsor in August.
She has since taken part at the Breeders’ Cup in America and became the first female to ride a winner in the Longines International Jockeys Championship in Hong Kong this month.
Doyle added: “The Group One on Champions Day is the biggest highlight of the year for me. Hopefully it will unlock a few doors for the future – it’s great to get it under my belt at such a young age.”
Asked whether she would like to challenge for the jockeys’ championship in 2021, she said: “I’ll give it a go. I’ll always be trying as hard as I can and I hope I can land in that position one day, whether it be next year or the the year after I don’t know.
“The main thing is to try and keep people happy and ride as many winners as I can.”
