Name Meriel Tufnell | Died 2002 | |
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Meriel Patricia Tufnell (1948-2002) was the first female jockey in the UK to win a race under Jockey Club Rules.
Born with dislocated hips and later suffering childhood asthma, she overcame these disabilities to ride in gymkhanas and then BSJA showjumping.
She rode her mother's novice mare, Scorched Earth, to victory in the flat race "Goya Stakes" at Kempton Park on 6 May 1972. Neither horse nor jockey had raced previously, and this was the first race in which female jockeys were allowed to ride under Jockey Club Rules.
She went on to ride in and win several races, becoming European Champion in 1974. She was appointed MBE in 1976, a year after retiring from race riding. She opened an equestrian yard and became an instructor, and later went on to train point-to-pointers and hunter chasers with her husband.
In 2002, she died of cancer at the age of 53 having raised several thousand pounds for Sparks, a children's cancer charity.