Lorna Vincent

philiplmoore — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:42:09 +0000

Its amazing the people we meet on our way through life, I was watching the news this morning and they were talking about female jockeys. This made me think of an old friend, known to me as LJV because that was her reg on her car! well “LJV2″ and it was on a blue Ford Capri. So I suddenly wondered where is she now, so I did a search on Google: LORNA VINCENT was one of the first women to really carve out a name for herself as a jockey in the rough and tumble world of National Hunt racing. She rode her first winner at Exeter in 1978 but soon broadened her horizons and became established as an extremely accomplished pilot in an occupation that had previously been dominated by men. And, along with Diane Clay, Jacqui Oliver, Gee Armytage and Tarnya Sherwood,
Vincent developed into a role model for many girls who wanted to make a career out of the jumping game. Now 43, she is making a decent living in America as a valued work rider and hasn’t looked back since crossing the Atlantic in 1995 for what was meant to be a six- month stint.
She said: “Initially I came over to ride jumpers for Jonathan Sheppard but most of it was pretty much like point to pointing and that wasn’t what I wanted to do.
“It was Jonathan who sent me to Delaware Park and that’s where I first started riding work and it’s a lot better. The main pluses are that there is no driving all over the place and the money is good.
“It’s an early start but you can be finished by 10.30am and sometimes I jump on a pony in the afternoon because I can’t keep up the drinking pace with the other lads!
“I’ve also been to ride exercise at Gulfstream Park and Chicago and I’ve sat on some good horses including Albert The Great and A P Valentine for Nick Zito.
“My last job in the UK was as assistant to Mick Channon but I’m here to stay now. I’m having a great time.”
Vincent’s best season was in 1979-80 when she rode 22 winners with the highlight undoubtably coming aboard her old friend Walnut Wonder who beat seven rivals to spring a 33-1 shock in the Buchanan Whisky Hurdle at Ascot. Walnut Wonder was trained by shrewd West Country handler Les Kennard who helped Vincent’s career get off the ground in the early years. Her other favourite partner was Gently Does It but, like every jump jockey, injury was never far away and a schooling fall in December 1989 – resulting in severed ligaments to her right knee – was just one reminder of the perils of her profession.

So there we have it, it brought back great memories when i worked as a tractor driver for Les Kennard, it was hard work I had to share a bungalow with about 8 teenage girls in riding gear!!!!

I also had a very interesting evening one night at Newbury race course when Lorna invited me to her 21 birthday party, it was a posh do!! I took along my mate Nic Carr, can you imagine Nic and I dressed in our teddy boy gear at this real posh bash! I will never forget Nic asking me to go get him a beer, so off to the bar I went and said “two pints of larger please!” The barman looked down at me…”larger Sir, this isn’t a pub, would Sir like wine?” You can imagine Nics face when I walked back with a glass of wine in my hand.

Thanks Lora for a great memory xx

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Lorna Vincent