France: Mickaelle Michel, one of France’s most successful female jockeys, is packing her bags and heading to the US where she hopes to make her name on the North American circuit.
Michel, 26, rode her last race at Saint-Cloud last month and will fly to Kentucky in the next ten days where she will base herself with her husband and manager, the former jockey Frederic Spanu.
France’s former champion apprentice of France is following a path well trodden by French jockeys, with compatriots Flavien Prat, Florent Geroux, Julien Leparoux and latterly Vincent Cheminaud all having moved to the US in search of greater opportunities.
Since Michel topped the claiming ranks with a then-record score of 72, she has enjoyed far more success outside France than at home, where she has yet to ride a winner in 2022. Having earned idol status during a record-breaking visit to Japan in 2020, she claimed the historic G2 Premio Jockey Club in Italy as well as riding in G1 races in Dubai and Germany plus at last year’s Shergar Cup at Ascot.
“I took the decision while I was out injured during the winter,” said Michel, who has hired bloodstock agent Jane Buchanan to book her rides. “Fred and I have been thinking about moving to the USA for many years and now it’s done. I have to organise my luggage because I have a lot of shoes!
“We have said goodbye to my family and Fred’s family but we will be leaving France in the next seven to ten days,” she explained. “We are going to Kentucky. In the summer we could go to Saratoga and in the winter maybe I will ride in New Orleans.”
Unlike other jockeys moving from Europe to the US, Michel already has extensive experience of riding on dirt from her exploits in Japan.
Riding on the second-tier National Association of Racing circuit, which is all dirt, Michel recorded 30 wins, setting a new best score by a visiting jockey on a short-term licence. The success broadened her fan base to the extent she now has nearly 70,000 social media followers.
Although she had plans to return to Japan full-time and was learning the language to help secure a Japan Racing Association jockeys’ licence, any such ambition was dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were already thinking about the USA when Japan asked me to ride there,” she said. “I thought my career would be in Japan but the COVID-19 is still in Japan and the borders are still closed. So we went back to our first idea.
“I am sure America will be a very good experience and I hope the owners and trainers will love my riding. I have ridden approximately 300 races on dirt in Japan and Saudi Arabia.
“That could be good for me because every French jockey who has left for the USA hasn't necessarily had experience on dirt, but I have.”
Michel was at the vanguard of female jockeys In France, where a 1.5kg weight allowance was introduced in races below Listed and Group level to increase their opportunities. She rode 72 winners in 2018 to top the apprentice table but 22 has been her best score since.
“In France for me the situation for female jockeys is still not good,” she said. “Female jockeys don’t ride a lot and often only in small races, like claimers or small handicaps. The trainers and owners don’t give female jockeys the chance to prove they have enough talent to ride in big races.
“In Japan they gave me that chance and in the USA it looks like they have a lot of super female jockeys like Chantal Sutherland and Sophie Doyle and before them Rosie Napravnik and Julie Krone, who were superstars.
“They don’t have women like that in France. They don’t seem ready for that. I don’t know if it will be better for me in the USA, but I will try.”
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