AZEL Cowie-Fong, Jamaica’s first female jockey recently returned to her former stomping ground, Caymanas Park, after an absence of eight years and was pleased at the presence of women riders in the saddle. At present there are seven listed women riders in the country.

Cowie-Fong in her short time in the saddle, rode 14 winners with 10 coming in her first year.

“In my time (1987), I was the only female who had the forthrightness and thoughtfulness to persevere in the face of much hardships to overcome male dominance. Much of my success was achieved by being attached to Jamaica’s first female trainer Eileen Cliggott,” Cowie-Fong informed.

“After becoming a full-fledged rider, I could have achieved more but I hope that the female riders of today show greater determination and one day get to the top of the profession with a champion’s title,” Cowie-Fong said.

For Cowie-Fong, venturing into the sport of horse racing started from the time she was a little girl, who loved watching cowboys’ movies.

“At the time, I did not know what a jockey was. All I wanted was to become a cowboy. With this idea of becoming a cowboy fixed in my mind, I told myself that when I became an adult, I would migrate to Canada because my grandma was there and learn to ride horses just like the cowboys.

“My grandma died and I went to live in Mandeville with my father and he was a big fan of horse racing. Living with him, I listened to the races and took down the results for him until he came home,” Cowie-Fong revealed.

She, Cowie-Fong, said that her interest was further piqued when she went to the racetrack and got closer to the horses.

“My interest began to grow even further when my father started taking me to the track where I saw the horses in the flesh, the grooms and jockeys. At that time, I was about 13 or 14 years old. At one time while at the track one of the grooms gave me the halter rope to hold.

“While holding the rope, the horse started to walk towards me and I started to walk away as the horse approached, as I was afraid.

“The groom then said to me don’t be afraid, he (the horse) is not going to do you any harm. That was my first direct interaction with a horse, at Caymanas Park,” she said.

After reading an article in the newspaper about females not having the right elements to become a jockey, Cowie-Fong passion for riding became even more intense.

“At the time they did not have any women riding. Then there was this interview with Kim Holloway from the Jockey’s Training School.

“Holloway was asked about female riders in Jamaica.

“Her response was that girls came but they were not the right height, not the right weight and they were not accepted. Then further in the article, the question was asked: ‘Should a girl of the right height and size come would she be accepted? She answered yes’,” Cowie-Fong remembered.

With this in mind and with the right height and weight, Cowie-Fong made her move.

“After I finished reading the article, I turned to my father and said; I will become the first female jockey in Jamaica. My daddy was a strict person and did not like us girls becoming associated with so many men.

“But when I approached him in earnest on the subject that I really want to become the first female jockey in Jamaica, he looked at me and said — ‘If that is what you want then go ahead.’ That was the biggest surprise I ever got from my father,” a smiling — Cowie-Fong offered.

To enter the training programme at the time, one had to know how to pick stalls, look after horses and be able to do basic riding.

Cowie-Fong was then taken to the stables of Ren Gonsalves to get started on her mission of becoming a jockey but due to various different reason ended up with Mrs Cliggott.

“This was around 1987 and I will never forget on my second day at her stables she gave me a paper to read, probably to test whether or not I could read and write properly. After completing the passages satisfactorily, Mrs Cliggott smiled and said, ‘ok quite good’.

“To begin, I had to pick stables, cut grass for the horses among other things, an aspiring apprentice had to master horse care before getting into the saddle. So keen was my interest in becoming a licensed rider, I buckled down to the gruelling tasks.

“When I made my mistakes, it was a big laugh but I kept plugging away. When it became tiresome and expensive to travel from Ewarton to Caymanas Park and back, I approached Mrs Cliggott on the possibility of staying at her home at the farm and she promptly agreed.

“This was to my advantage as I got the opportunity to improve my riding skills and got more time to better understand the basic and fundamentals of becoming a racehorse jockey.

“I was with her for three years and while staying on the farm with Mrs Cliggott, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

“While perfecting my riding skills, I would sometimes fall off the horse and would at times go home and cry and would not come back for days.

“One day when I returned after staying away for some days, Mrs Cliggott remarked, look who is here, my visiting jockey. But it was all in the fun of preparing myself for what was to come and to be a jockey in a male-dominated activity,” Cowie-Fong remembered with pride.