‘I never thought she would be a jockey’: rider proves father wrong after completing 100 races

Racehorse trainer Graeme McPherson and his daughter, Eliza McPherson, experienced a full circle moment at Heythrop point-to-point, when Eliza rode in her 100th pony race at Cocklebarrow, Gloucestershire on Sunday, 26 January, before hanging up her pony racing boots.

The talented youngster turns 16 on 20 March and has ambitions to become a professional Flat jockey having clocked 24 winners on ponies.

But rewind to 21 March 2009, the day after Eliza was born, and Graeme was adamant his daughter wouldn’t have a future in the saddle.

“At the time, I was training point-to-pointers and I had just trained a winner at the Siddington meeting called Rein A Pedre, who went on to win at Cheltenham later that year,” he said. “More importantly, my daughter Eliza was born the day before we had the winner and I jokingly said in an interview to Horse & Hound that mother and daughter were doing well, but as a 10lb baby, there was no way Eliza would ever be a jockey. How wrong I was!”

Eliza now has her sights set on securing an amateur jockey licence to ride on the Flat having enjoyed a very successful pony racing career.

“Eliza has always been pony-mad; she won her first pony race aged nine, on a 12.2hh called Crofthill Montague, and has progressed through the ranks since then,” said Graeme. “I’m not sure there are many, if any, other girls out there who have ridden in 100 pony races.

“The boarding school Eliza attends is very good at allowing her out at the weekends to race and Will Kennedy has been a great help at jockey coaching her.”

Graeme admits that he gets “very nervous” watching his daughter race-ride.

“I feel far more nervous watching her racing than I do watching one of my chasers go three miles around Aintree,” he laughs.

In a lovely gesture by organisers to Eliza, they presented her with a commemorative picture containing the names of the ponies who have carried her to various victories – Little Galway Girl, Madame Mimi, She’s A Lady, Mag Earle, Crofthill Montague and Buddys Girl.

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Gemma Redrup

H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor

Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.