Ever since Hollie Doyle won the Upavon Fillies’ Stakes in 2017, she has become one of the UK’s most promising jockeys. Since this win, Doyle has gone onto set new records for the number of wins by a female jockey in a British racing season. 
With an outstanding performance to win the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at this year’s Royal Ascot, it’s clear that this 23-year is only going to keep getting better. So what’s behind Doyle’s exceptional racing talents, and where will she go from here?
Doyle comes from a family with a renowned racing history. Her father Mark Doyle used to be a jockey and her mother Caroline rode in Arab horse races. With a solid grounding in horse racing as a youngster, Doyle gained valuable knowledge at David Evans’ training yard before going on to learn further racing skills at the legendary Santa Anita racecourse in California.
This was followed by three years as an apprentice jockey at Richard Hannon’s training yard. This apprenticeship period was remarkable due to the fact that Doyle was still an apprentice when she won her first Listed race on Billesdon Bess. However, she quickly learned that there are many ups and downs in the racing world, as she suffered some brutal injuries after being unseated in a Haydock race in June 2018.
Thankfully Doyle learned to bounce back from such setbacks. This was seen in a phenomenal racing season in 2019. In this year Doyle managed to get a phenomenal 116 wins. This eclipsed Josephine Gordon’s achievement of 106 wins that was the previous record for the number of victories by a British female jockey in a season.
From here, Doyle has gone from strength to strength and is rarely absent from the news pages of many horse racing betting resources such as HorseBetting.com. She clearly isn’t a jockey who is happy to rest on her laurels, as 2020 proved to be yet another breakthrough season.
This was seen when Doyle claimed her first Royal Ascot win on the 33-1 outsider Scarlet Dragon in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes. She had previously rode this Alan King-trained racehorse to her first major handicap win back in 2016.
Such an achievement was quickly followed in July 2020. This saw Doyle managing to get her first Group race winner on Dame Malliot in the Princess of Wales’ Stakes at the Newmarket racecourse. In August, Doyle formed an alliance with the owner Imad Al Sagar when she claimed victory on Extra Elusive in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock. This Group Three win marked a true triumph seeing that she had only been appointed as Al Sagar’s retained rider at the end of July.
Things have gone from strength to strength for Doyle through the whole of the summer racing calendar. Another massive highlight came at the end of August at the Windsor Racecourse. This saw the young jockey setting another record when she became the first female jockey to win five races on the same British card. Doyle put on an exceptional performance on soft ground with wins on runners like the favourite Indian Creak, as well as Sur Mer, Le Don De Vie, Extra Elusive and Mistress Nellie.
As such, it’s no surprise to find that many racing commentators feel that Doyle could be the first female rider champion jockey. Her natural ability and skill in settling runners and putting them in commanding race positions is exceptional. Plus a solid work ethic has caused Doyle to receive plenty of praise.
Breaking through the notoriously male-dominated world of horse racing is no easy task, and Doyle has also had to deal with a very unsettled year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with support from influential players such as Archie Watson and Imad Al Sagar, it seems that Hollie Doyle is set up for a spectacular future. There are still plenty of obstacles to overcome and things to learn. But it looks like Doyle has the natural talent and fierce determination to succeed as one of the new shining lights of the horse racing scene.
