Hayley Turner Has Every Right to Dream Ahead

Who would have thought that when top female jockey, Hayley Turner, won her first ever horse race in June 2000, that the name of that horse would have been so very aptly named. The horse was called Generate and ever since that win, Hayley has done nothing but 'generate’ winners and further her career as the country's number one female jockey .

Since that first win eleven years ago, Hayley has become one of the most consistent jockeys in the weighing room but she only really began to grab the attention of both punters and top trainers when she rode a 100 winners in one season back in 2008. That tally put her in joint tenth place in the leading jockeys table that season alongside Tom Queally the now stable jockey to Sir Henry Cecil at Newmarket.

Hayley would have probably surpassed the 100 mark in 2009 but an unfortunate injury in the stalls kept her off course for several months. Nonetheless, she came back from the injury and completed the season where she rode 61 winners, her second best career tally.

Earlier in her career, Turner was the apprentice for the Michael Bell stable and she became joint champion apprentice along with Saleem Golam in 2005, but unlike so many champion apprentices before her, Hayley has gone on to build a reputation for being a great horsewoman and despite losing her claim, owners and trainers have always be keen to hand her rides due to her strength and skill and as such, she has ridden over 360 winners as a pro.

Last weekend, the 28 year old topped all her previous achievements in racing when she guided the David Simcock trained, Dream Ahead, to victory in the Group One July Cup at Newmarket. The win made her the first female jockey to win a Group One race outright in this country, surpassing the feat of Alex Greaves, who dead heated the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes on Ya Malak back in 1997.

Last season, Dream Ahead was rated the equal best juvenile in Europe last season, alongside the unbeaten Frankel with a rating of 128. Although well beaten on his seasonal debut in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, Dream Ahead was still well fancied for the Newmarket July meeting's feature race and went off at odds of 7/1. Turner picked up the ride with Jamie Spencer on riding duty in America and never let connections down, perfectly tracking the leading over the first five furlongs before making her move a furlong from home to get up to win by 1/2 a length.

So far this season Hayley Turner has ridden 60 winners and is well on target to surpass the hundred mark once again. Even more profoundly she has ridden her winners from just 399 rides giving her a win to ride percentage of 15%, her best ever and equal to that of Paul Hanagan who currently leads the jockey’s table with 80 winners! And having proved herself on the biggest stage of all, there is sure to be no shortage of rides in the future.

There is no doubt that Hayley Turner will continue to be one of the best known names in flat racing and will no doubt inspired a generation of potential female riders. What the immediate future holds for Turner though remains unseen and whether she will be paired up once again with Dream Ahead in either the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood or the Betfred Sprint Cup, the Colt's next likely targets, has yet to be established but if she doesn't retain the ride, she can certainly considered herself hard done to.