St Leger win ends Saffie Osborne's 'fear of failure'

Saffie Osborne said the "fear of failure" has gone after she became the first woman to win a British Classic when she rode Highwayman to victory in the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday. The 24-year-old told BBC Sport the result means she can look back on her career and know it was "worth it" despite wanting to achieve "so much more".

Osborne had her first season as an apprentice in 2020 and rode her first Classic four years later. She said winning a British Classic had been a dream since she was five, and described the sport as "very lonely", estimating she drives 65,000 miles a year, often alone, and has suffered serious falls, breaking numerous bones.

According to the National Horseracing Museum, only six female jockeys have had rides in British Classics in 250 years, totalling 12 rides: Gay Kelleway (The Oaks, 1986; The Oaks, 1987), Alex Greaves (The Derby, 1996; 1,000 Guineas, 1996), Hayley Turner (The Derby, 2012) Josephine Gordon (1,000 Guineas, 2017), Hollie Doyle (The Oaks, 2021; St Leger, 2021; The Oaks, 2022) and Saffie Osborne (2,000 Guineas, 2024; 1,000 Guineas, 2026; St Leger, 2026).

She commented on the sport's history, saying: "It has been a male-dominated sport for an extremely long time, and I suppose it's becoming less and less of a conversation, which is quite nice," and added, "When people talk about the firsts of what women have done, I think to have my own one is quite special. "I think it's also quite poignant because there's so few left of first things for women to do in this sport."

Osborne's ride on Highwayman in the St Leger was her first for trainer Joseph O'Brien and came about because of an injury to regular jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle. She acknowledged that success depends on "being chosen", and said: "I don't feel like in my position now that I'm ever looked at any differently because I'm a woman," adding, "Any jockey, when you're starting out, it takes years to gain respect and be looked at as a person that people would want to use. And I don't think my gender at this point would have had anything to do with it. "Hopefully Saturday will open more doors. But when it comes to me as a female jockey, I don't think I'm viewed any differently within the industry."

Osborne said she is treated as "one of the lads" in the weighing room and that she has never experienced sexism and misogyny, unlike other female jockeys including Bryony Frost. The article recalled that jockey Robbie Dunne was banned from racing for 18 months, with three months suspended, for bullying fellow rider Frost in 2021, a sanction later cut to 10 months on appeal.

Having ridden 60 winners since the start of May, Osborne is currently sitting eighth in the Flat Jockeys Championship and is open about dreaming of being champion jockey. She said: "You wouldn't be a jockey if you didn't want to be champion jockey one day. I think this is the first year that maybe I truly believe that I could one day," and credited her agent, saying: "I'm very lucky. I have a very good agent [Tony Hind] and agents are so important in this sport. He's got an amazing book of jockeys, the likes of Ryan Moore, William Buick, Billy Loughnane. And I'm very lucky to be on his team. "He makes champion jockeys, he's had a lot of them. And yeah, I would love to be the next one on the list."

"It's been a phenomenal year that's been topped off by Saturday," Osborne said, and she would be the first female jockey to achieve being champion jockey if she reaches that goal.