Most successful female rider in Canadian racing history answers the questions
Emma-
Jayne Willson, 40, is the winningmost female jockey of all time in Canada with more than 1,700 career wins. She arrived on the scene in Woodbine, Toronto, as an apprentice in 2005 when she became the first female in the track’s 50-year history to claim a meet title, riding 175 winners over the 167-day season.
Her achievement secured her Canada’s Sovereign Award and North America’s Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. She claimed the first of her multiple G1 successes on Mike Fox in Canada’s oldest race, the Queen’s Plate, in June 2007.
She is also a popular visitor to Britain, where she is a regular at Ascot’s Shergar Cup meeting; she has seven ‘caps’ and has ridden four winners.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
If you ask my dad Jim, who was born and raised in Britain, who is the greatest jockey, he will say Lester Piggott. He was before my time but the history and his significance with his recent passing has made me feel I would have loved to have been in the jockeys’ room, even just as a fly on the wall. I’m not sure I would have been allowed that time, but to watch him work would have been amazing.
Which is your favourite venue and race anywhere in the world?
Woodbine holds a special place in my heart. It is home. We have world-class racing and some of the best horses have run over our course and been to our track. It’s right up there as a sentimental favourite as much as anything. But when I saw Happy Valley for the first time the uniqueness was just next level. It was amazing to see the city up and around it.
I do love to watch the Grand National. It’s a bit different, though I’ve never been over fences. I really enjoy those longer-distance, technical races. The National is what it is for what it’s asking of the animal and the jockey. As a fan that is the sort of stuff I like to see.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
I had a lot of success with a horse by the name of Just Rushing. He won seven in a row and in the midst of it I went to the Shergar Cup for the first time. So I didn’t ride him in the race in the middle but when I came back I got back on him. He was a mid-level claimer who developed into a stakes winner and then a graded-stakes winner. He was an over-achiever. He was quirky, a little odd, and when he retired the owners gave him to me. His name is my licence plate on my 2014 Porsche. If he was a person he would have been my best friend. We would have been tight.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
When I won my first race. It was my second lifetime start on a horse by the name of Ali Olah. It was on the dirt in Fort Erie, Ontario, which is essentially our ‘B’ meet. I remember it like it was yesterday. The ride was the first call my agent had taken. She was a live runner but on your second ride you are bound to make mistakes. In North America you are not allowed to carry a stick when you first start so there were a lot of doubts going in.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
The sport is challenged everywhere, North America more so than others, and I wish we could all come together and come up with a mission to move racing forward for the better and make it sustainable for the future so that everyone can enjoy this game. That’s because I can see it going in the wrong direction. I would love to see a fanbase like we see in Japan and Hong Kong, one that shares the same level of passion and numbers, in North America and Europe.
Emma-Jayne Wilson was speaking to Jon Lees
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