“Appalling role model” Lady Brady of Knightsbridge CBE (AKA ‘Lazy Brady’ and ‘The Overpainted Aunt Sally’) can normally be relied upon on a Sunday to pen a toxic column for The Sun in which she savagely slams people she has utterly no knowledge of. Today, she actually, unpredictably, did something decent for a change and saluted the shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 nominee, jockey Hollie Doyle.

In an unusually pleasant opinion piece, Karren Brady remarked of 24-year-old Doyle, “[she] gives hope for women’s sport” and added of the ‘Female Frankie’:

“Hollie Doyle reminds us that something positive is happening with women’s sport. The playing field is levelling… [She] is an emblem of hope for all sportswomen… A symbol of positive change – of women succeeding and being taken seriously in sport. As positive omens for the year ahead go, I’ll take it.”

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Two stories to keep beside you

Heroine of the Hour – Hollie Doyle wins five races in one day – In becoming the first woman in British racing to ride five winners in one day at odds of 899-1, 23-year-old Hollie Doyle has set herself on course for deserved stardom.
The same people in the Steeple archive

Heroine of the Hour – Hollie Doyle

In becoming the first woman in British racing to ride five winners in one day at cumulative odds of 899-1, 23-year-old Hollie Doyle has set herself on course for deserved stardom.

Heroine of the Hour 2021 – Hollie Doyle achieved a remarkable 5 wins in a row at Kempton Park last night at odds of 2,522-1; her success brings cheer to racing a time when the sport most needs it.
The same people in the Steeple archive

Heroine of the Hour 2021 – Hollie Doyle

Hollie Doyle achieved a remarkable 5 wins in a row at Kempton Park last night at odds of 2,522-1; her success brings cheer to racing a time when the sport most needs it.

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Hollie Doyle’s remarkable achievements in her “whirlwind” 2020 number:

  • Women’s British record holder for wins in a calendar year.
  • First Royal Ascot winner with Scarlet Dragon in the Duke of Edinburgh.
  • Winner of over £1.7 million in prize money in 2020.
  • Record-breaking first woman to win five races on a card at Windsor.
  • Broke her British record in October after 117th winner and is closing in on 150 wins this year in total.
  • First woman to win at the QIOCO British Champions Day at Ascot.

Speaking to Sportsmail, Doyle, herself, modestly remarked of her nomination alongside Lewis Hamilton and Tyson Fury and commented:

“I was quite amused by it – I just didn’t believe it – it’s crazy.”

“When you’re younger and you’re growing up you have these ambitions in your brain but this year when we were delayed with the whole season because of Covid I just wrote it off but I just can’t believe it really.”

“I just take it as it comes but I rode over 100 winners last year for the first time and I really wanted to back that up so it wasn’t a one off. “

“With the delay I thought whatever I do this year, however many winners I have is a bonus under the circumstances. It’s been pretty crazy, I never thought it would have been this good.”

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“I don’t even see this for me personally. I hope to just represent the industry as a whole and I hope it can open doors and showcase the sport to a broader audience.”

“I just want to better myself every year and I realise how hard it’s going to be after this year. But I don’t want this to be the best year of my life. I want to do better.”

Elsewhere, trainer William Haggas summed up the mood of the nation most accurately with a simple sentence: “There is none who deserves this success more than Hollie.”

#VoteHollie by telephone and online tonight, BBC One from 8pm onwards.

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