Hollie Doyle becomes first woman to be voted ‘Flat Jockey of the Year’ on day she rides her 150th winner of the year

If Hollie Doyle did not think 2020 could get much better after finishing third behind Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, it did on Tuesday when she not only rode her 150th winner of the year but also became the first female to be voted ‘Flat Jockey of the Year’ by her peers at the ‘Lesters.’ There were nine awards up for grabs at the Professional Jockeys Association awards, nicknamed the ‘Lesters’ in tribute to the greatest living jockey Lester Piggott and as a nod to the Oscars, held on Sky Sports Racing channel on Monday night rather than at a gala dinner. Since the awards were inaugurated in 1990, when Pat Eddery was Flat Jockey of the Year, only Paul Hanagan has ever won three ‘Lesters’ in one year. Female jockeys Hayley Turner, Amy Ryan and Josephine Gordon won Apprentice of the Year and Lucy Alexander won Conditional Jockey of the Year, awards also open to men. But Doyle is the first to join the hitherto all-male list of jockeys including Frankie Dettori, Kieren Fallon, Ryan Moore, Richard Hughes and Oisin Murphy to have won the Flat Jockey award.