Hayley Turner has denied that a lack of opportunities has played any part in her decision to quit the saddle. The most successful female jockey in British racing history spoke on Tuesday for the first time in response to reports that she is soon to retire and explained that her decision, made three months ago, had more to do with the timing being right for a new career in broadcasting.
“Saying that I’m frustrated and no opportunities, I don’t think that’s fair, really,” Turner said during an appearance on At The Races. “I’m on 40 winners this year already. If I rode til the end of the year, I’d be on 50-plus.
“I get plenty of rides, I’m paying my mortgage. But being a jockey isn’t just a job, it’s your lifestyle and it’s difficult to have a work/life balance. I just feel that I’ve done so much, what a way to finish it and then let’s go and take on something else.”
Turner, 32, revealed that she is to join ATR’s team as a pundit. “I’ll be very rubbish to start with. At least people that are watching … will understand if I mess up a few times.” While Turner has done countless interviews across all media during her 15-year riding career, she has not often sought on-screen opportunities as a pundit, though a recent interview with her fellow jockey Sammy Jo Bell on the BBC website was a feint in that direction.
“I just feel ready to start something new, get my teeth stuck into something else now,” Turner said, revealing that she had resolved to quit during Epsom’s Derby meeting in early June. “I feel like it’s the right time now. I made the decision myself. My mum and my nan have always been like, ‘Oh, you don’t have to keep riding forever’. I’ve always been adamant that I would. But I’ve made this decision myself and it just feels like the right time.
“I’m particularly pleased with how this season’s gone. Last year was a steady one. After I had my injury, it took me a bit longer to get going, but this year I feel like I’m back to my best and I feel ready to leave on a high now.”
Turner, newly returned from a jockeys’ competition in Japan, where she rode a winner, said she will be in action next at Chelmsford on Thursday evening, followed by Newcastle on Friday and Kempton on Saturday. She intends to stop after riding at Doncaster in early November, the last day’s turf Flat racing this year, meaning that the sport has a third jockey’s farewell tour on its hands, following those by Tony McCoy and Richard Hughes earlier in the year.
The injury to which Turner alluded came in September 2013, when Seal Of Approval fell at Doncaster, leaving the jockey with breaks to three vertebrae and her pelvis, as well as lasting damage to her confidence about which Turner is now candid. While she returned to action three months later, winners proved harder to come by than had been the case and she had missed the chance to partner Seal Of Approval to victory on Champions Day at Ascot that October.
“I sat at home and watched her win a Group One and I was so frustrated,” Turner reflected on Tuesday. “Obviously, I cried and then I rang my mum, like you do. And so it was tough but jockeys do have to deal with stuff like that, it’s not just me. I’ve had a lot of injuries and I’ve come back and never been fazed by them. But when I came back from her injury, I’d lost confidence. I was taking [myself] out of gaps that I wouldn’t have done and if I was on a keen horse, I’d be a bit nervous.
“To be honest, at the time, I probably wouldn’t admit it to myself, whereas now I feel like I’ve come back and I’m riding as I usually would. I can actually look back and appreciate it now.”
Besides working on ATR, the 32-year-old Turner said she had other opportunities “in the pipeline” on which she did not enlarge. She will continue to be an ambassador for Waitrose.
Turner, whose career peaked in 2011 with Group One successes aboard Dream Ahead and Margot Did, offered praise for the former Olympian Victoria Pendleton, whose career as a jockey began with a second-place finish at Ripon on Monday. “I’ve met her a couple of times recently and she’s got, as you would expect, a really good attitude. She’s very self-critical, she’s always listening, you can just tell she always wants to improve and get better.
“She’d have got off that and, rather than be, ‘Ah I finised second, how good is that?’, she’d have been like, ‘I should have won that! What could I have done different? How can I make it better next time?’”
