With Rachael Blackmore winning the Gold Cup last month, female jump jockeys are enjoying a higher profile than ever and a number of young hopefuls on the British point-to-point circuit are aspiring to follow in her footsteps. Two, from very different backgrounds, are Olive Nicholls and Ellie Callwood.
Olive’s father, Paul, needs no introduction and mother Georgie was a successful rider and trainer of pointers herself. Olive turned 16 in December, had her debut ride over fences on Monsieur Gibraltar four days later and her first win – on Virak at Chaddesley Corbett (pictured nearside) – on her second ride. She’s already visited the winners’ enclosure five times, including at the weekend on Rhythm Is A Dancer, and finished third on her first mount under rules – on her father’s Get The Appeal – last week.
“I had my first pony – Oakey - when I was two,” said Olive of her background with horses, “Taking him to pony club and trotting him round the hunting field. My birthday is handy for pony racing, because you have to be nine on January 1st, and Richard Prince gave me Angel, who my sister (professional jockey) Megan had ridden years before. She was 15, knew what she was doing and I won two on her. The next season I rode Churchill, who was a machine of a pony.”
“When I moved to Kingston Lisle aged 11,” Olive continued, “I went down the show jumping route – I was dead keen, pony racing was quite a commitment and I just wanted to jump all day. I also did a lot of Shetland racing – which I found very tactical. I got my first event pony when I was 12, have done that for years and really enjoy it – as well as the pointers, we’ve got three eventers at home.” She confirmed, however, that riding between the flags has been her destiny. “Dad’s a massive supporter of pointing and he’s always wanted me to do it.”
As for whether she can emulate Megan, Champion Novice Lady in 2013/2014, Olive was non-committal. “You never know. I’d like to think I could put up a fight and I’ve had a good start, but I just want to enjoy my first season without any pressure and see how it goes. It’s been amazing to ride different horses (she has had six individual mounts so far) and on different tracks and to get more experience than from just having one.”
Olive talked me through some of her favourites. “I love Monsieur Gibraltar. He gave me so much confidence early on. I won on him at Larkhill the same day I had my first fall, from Sametegal – it would have taken a lot more than that to stop me! I ride Old Guard at home, have done most of his schooling and know him inside out – it’s a lot more rewarding than just turning up on the day. With his legs, firm ground doesn’t help and he’s probably being a bit careful. And I’ve now won on Rhythm Is A Dancer two weeks in a row.”
Olive on Old Guard at home with Mum Georgie (Caroline Exelby)
“Long-term, I definitely want to train,” added Olive. “I’m not sure whether I want to turn professional first like Megan and have a crack at that, but I’ve certainly got the bug and don’t see any reason why the girls shouldn’t be just as successful as the men.”
With six winners, 18-year-old Ellie lies second in the Novice Ladies’ Championship, two behind Rosie Howarth. From Knutsford in Cheshire – “Just a few miles from Tabley point-to-point course” – Ellie has no racing background, but has been riding all her life, as she explained. “My Dad and brother both whipped-in for the Cheshire Forest and I was friends with the huntsman’s daughter. When I was at primary school, we’d ride our own races round the kennels after dark, taking turns on the slow pony and the fast one!”
“Mum’s been successful riding working hunters and producing show horses,” Ellie went on, “So I got into that, riding mountain moorlands (‘hairies’) and plaited ponies. As I got older, I took over from Mum and she’s now the coach and groom!” Although Ellie never thought racing would be on the cards, her break came through show jumping. “I got a good showjumper and got more competitive,” she told me. “A friend of ours, Adrian Marsh, trained me and he was also friends with Dan Skelton. He got me a month’s work experience there when I was 14 and I had a brilliant time and went back two years later.”
From then on, Ellie wanted to get into racing. “In summer 2020,” she said, “I asked how to do it and Dan told me to speak to Tom and Gina Ellis, for whom I now work, if I wanted a pointer. They showed Mum and I round the yard and we went to Doncaster Sales with them. We waited all day and didn’t get a horse but then David Phelan found us Wounded Warrior and he’s been one in a million.”
Ellie winning on Wounded Warrior at Duncombe Park (Tom Milburn)
Ellie admits to having had a difficult first season on her new purchase. “Although I was second at Dingley and fifth twice at Edgcote, I went through a wing on my first ride and fell at Mollington when I think we’d have won. But I couldn’t grumble, as I’d barely ridden racehorses before.” This year, however, has been a different ball game. “Everything’s clicked into place and I’ve been getting more experience by working with Tom and Gina’s youngsters – I’ve really enjoyed schooling them and bringing them on and that’s definitely helped. I also got a new horse – Precious Bounty – who’s younger and speedier, on whom I’ve won four and, while he started as a maiden, he’s always known what he’s doing.”
Ellie after her first win on Precious Bounty at Cocklebarrow (Neale Blackburn)
“My aim is to win the novice title and hopefully I can do it with Tom & Gina’s backing,” confirmed Ellie, “Although it’s not the end of the world if I don’t and Gina didn’t! It’s obviously going to be competitive – Rosie was second last year, has more experience than me and will be desperate to win it.” As for the future, “I’d like to be like Gina, being part of a great team and riding pointers in the winner and showjumpers in the summer. But honestly, I’m just living in the moment, as I never thought we’d own a racehorse or that any of this would be possible!”
A version of this article appeared in the Racing Post on Friday 1st April.