RACING
“Mary Hirsch Gets License” For the first time in the history of The Jockey Club, a license to train horses for racing was granted to a woman when such permission was accorded Miss Mary Hirsch, daughter of Max Hirsch. Miss Hirsch, who was denied a license in New York in 1934, already holds licenses in Michigan and Illinois. Actually, she has been training in New York, but her horses went out under the names either of her brother, W.J. (Buddy) Hirsch, or her father. ~ the Blood-horse, April 13, 1935
the FeMALe FACtOR
how female trainers view themselves in a male-dominated industry At Saratoga Race Course last summer, 14 female trainers combined to win 26 races. Eighteen other women started at least one horse at arguably the most prestigious meet in North America. Have women come a long way in the eight decades since Mary Hirsch was licensed by The Jockey Club? WORDS: BILL HELLER PHOTOS: HORSEPHOTOS, LEIGH ANN HOWARD, KEENELAND ASSOcIATION INc, THE NATIONAL MuSEuM Of RAcING AND HALL Of fAME
h
“
ORseRACING, it’s an old-school sport,” said trainer Linda Rice, who won seven races at saratoga last summer, six years after becoming the first woman to win the saratoga training title. “historically, the position of trainer was handled by a man. But when I started training horses in New York in 1997, there were maybe three women trainers, including me. I think that in the last five years, it’s changed dramatically.”
44
TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 39
Rice, 51, who finished 16th in North America in earnings in both 2014 and 2015, is one of the reasons why. Besides her saratoga title, she has tied for one at Belmont and at Aqueduct. After edging Pletcher to win the saratoga training title in 2009, she tied him for the 2011 Belmont spring/summer meet title with the final horse she saddled in the meet, sextant, owned by her father Clyde. sextant also gave Rice her 1,000th victory. In North America, Rice is the all-time leading woman trainer in career earnings with more than $53 million, placing her at the threshold of becoming the first of her sex to break into the top 50 of all time. In January, Rice trainee La Verdad,
owned by Lady sheila stable, earned the eclipse Award as champion female sprinter. On her way to becoming consistently successful, Rice ran into gender roadblocks. “As my career has grown, a lot of doors opened to me,” she said. “With others, I just got the impression that those doors wouldn’t open, that they weren’t ready to have a female trainer. they never did and they never would. I moved on to the next one.” Leigh Ann howard is a former trainer and past president of the California thoroughbred Breeders Association (CtBA), and she now sits on the CtBA board. “When I was in college at Cal-Poly,