Jenny Pitman
| Jenny Pitman | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Horse trainer, novelist |
| Born | 11 June 1946 |
| Nationality | British |
| Major racing wins | |
| Grand National (1983, 1995) Cheltenham Gold Cup (1984, 1991) | |
| Honours | |
| OBE | |
| Significant horses | |
| Corbiere, Royal Athlete, Esha Ness, Burrough Hill Lad | |
Jenny Pitman OBE (born 11 June 1946) is a former British racehorse trainer and author. She became the first woman to train a Grand National winner, when Corbiere won the race in 1983. She went on to win a second Grand National with Royal Athlete in 1995. Following her retirement from horse training in 1998 she became a writer of novels, principally with a racing theme.
Pitman was born as Jenny Harvey on her family's farm near Hoby, Leicestershire, one of seven children. She was brought up assisting in manual farm work, where horse powered equipment was a novelty, and learned to ride a pony "so young that being on horseback seemed as natural as walking". In 1957 she left the Hoby village school to attend Sarson Secondary Modern Girls' School in Melton Mowbray. She sustained a fractured skull when a showjumping pole fell on her head during a gymkhana at Syston, it was many months before resultant convulsions were diagnosed. At the age of 14, she obtained a weekend and school holiday job at Brooksby Grange horse racing yard.
Pitman left school two weeks before her 15th birthday, taking up a position as a stable girl, at Brooksby Grange for a weekly wage of £3 4s 5d. Her first overnight stop was at Manchester where her filly, Star Princess, won the 1962 Diomedes Handicap. Two years later she changed jobs, moving to a stable in Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, the first time she had lived away from her Leicestershire home.
Pitman worked at Bishop's Cleeve for two years. One day there, she was returning from a workout on the local gallops when her horse was spooked by a cyclist travelling around a corner too fast and on the wrong side of the road. The cyclist in question was jockey Richard Pitman. Jenny's initial reaction to Richard was unfavourable, but later, when Richard obtained a job in Lambourn at Fred Winter's training stables 50 miles (80 km) from Bishop's Cleeve, Jenny was persuaded to apply for a job in Lambourn with Major Champneys at Church Farm Stables. She moved in 1964.
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