Jockeys' coach apologises for 'women can't ride'

Jockeys' coach apologises for 'women can't ride'

A jockeys' coach has apologised after a BBC interview in which he said women "can't ride".
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) said Michael Tebbutt's remarks, to jockey Katie Walsh, were unacceptable.
Walsh believed the comments were tongue in cheek but fellow rider Lizzie Kelly said Tebbutt should be "ashamed".
Tebbutt said: "I apologise if I have caused any offence, to anyone in Britain or across the world. That was never my intention."
He added: "My comments were misjudged. I spend a lot of my time coaching young jockeys - both male and female - and, while many of them have different strengths and weaknesses, I always treat them all as equals, exactly as they should be."

Walsh, who won the Irish Grand National in April on Thunder And Roses, was commissioned by BBC Sport to look at equality in racing for Women's Sport Week.
She asked Tebbutt, a coach at the British Racing School in Newmarket, what the main difference was between a male and female jockey.
Tebbutt replied: "They go through the exact same training programme, with females knowing they have to put more in, so they will go the extra yard, knowing they have to catch the male up."
Walsh replies: "That's women for you," to which the coach responds, straight-faced on camera: "Still can't ride though."
He said strength was the main difference, adding: "All over strength, mental as well. I think males handle things a bit more". Walsh responds: "Well, I'd have to disagree with that."
The BHA said: "The comments are unacceptable. We are following up with Michael about his conduct.
"They are not views that anyone involved in racing would endorse or share.
"Racing is a unique sport, in that women and men compete on entirely equal terms as jockeys and trainers, and female riders have the full respect of their male counterparts in the weighing room.
"We are proud of this as a sport and that we do not need to rely on positive discrimination. We are following up with Michael about his conduct."

Afterwards Walsh said she genuinely believed the comments had been made in jest.
"He's got a lot of experience as he was a Flat jockey for 17 years and I've got a National Hunt background so he was trying to get me going," she said.
"I don't dispute the fact that male jockeys are stronger but I was trying to say to him that it is not just strength which comes into play in a race. It is one piece of the jigsaw but there are other factors too.
"He didn't execute what he was trying to say very well and it didn't come out very well.
"I finished third in the Grand National on Seabass and I don't think you'd get anyone saying they felt another jockey would have got him any closer."
Jockey Martin Lane defended Tebbutt on Twitter, pointing out that he had successfully coached several female jockeys.
But Kelly, who won the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton on Tea For Two in January, said: "Michael Tebbutt; be ashamed of yourself - a jockey coach whose opinion is 'girls still can't ride'. He actually said that."
And Camilla Henderson, the daughter of leading jumps trainer Nicky and a prominent point-to-point rider, tweeted: "Amazed those high up have these views! Says a lot."
Sally Rowley-Williams, chair of the Women in Racing group, said it was a challenge for female jockeys to get to the top of the sport.
"A woman jockey rode a not particularly good Flat horse I once owned and she won on him when even some of the strongest male flat jockeys could not do so," she said.
The group is to contact the BHA to ask for "clarification on their diversity and equality policies".

Women in racing

Almost a third of apprentice jockeys were women in 2014, says the British Horseracing Authority

In 2012, Turner became only the second female jockey to ride in the Derby when she partnered Cavaliero
Current leading riders include Hayley Turner, who has won two Group One races on the flat; plus amateurs Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh, both successful at the Cheltenham Festival
Female trainers have won two of the last seven runnings of the Grand National - Venetia Williams (Mon Mome, 2009), Sue Smith (Auroras Encore 2013)

Link of the Katie Walsh interview.

www.bbc.com/sport/0/horse-racing/32967447

No doubting the girls are getting better, but ........ No further comment

From the actual text it really does sound like he's just trying to wind her up. Unfortunately there are a lot of sensitive souls out there who may take offense. Better to give a nice, tame interview with the same old nice, tame comments, and above all, don't make jokes. Never. Ever. Make. Jokes. On. The. Media.

I'm sure it's one of the things they teach sports coaches and captains of teams, who have to face the media a lot: How to make sure you never give ANY comment that might possibly offend ANYone whatsoever. Add that to the fact that a lot of these guys are not very articulate and the result is eugh, boring, insipid.

Irritating as a woman, though, to see other women being humourless and over-sensitive, and then feeling virtuous and moral-high-groundish about it as well, "Even if you desert The Cause, I never will!!!!"

Well said Mav.

If that's his opinion then that's his opinion. Why wld anyone care?

Lets not beat around the Bush, women are better than or as good as men at many things ( most things ) but they are way behind men on most sports ( men are physically stronger ... Fact )

Racing, there is not much between men and women jocks , but strength and bottle separates them imo , and it's not male trainers being sexist or not giving girls a shot (ask the 100's of female trainers )

Just saying

Mavourneen wrote: From the actual text it really does sound like he's just trying to wind her up. Unfortunately there are a lot of sensitive souls out there who may take offense. Better to give a nice, tame interview with the same old nice, tame comments, and above all, don't make jokes. Never. Ever. Make. Jokes. On. The. Media.

I'm sure it's one of the things they teach sports coaches and captains of teams, who have to face the media a lot: How to make sure you never give ANY comment that might possibly offend ANYone whatsoever. Add that to the fact that a lot of these guys are not very articulate and the result is eugh, boring, insipid.

Irritating as a woman, though, to see other women being humourless and over-sensitive, and then feeling virtuous and moral-high-groundish about it as well, "Even if you desert The Cause, I never will!!!!"

Spot on Mav.

I swear if i have one more player / captain coach hit me with the "we wont underestimate them, they're a very good side blah blah blah it'll be the end of me.

With all the media training these guys get (speaking about the big codes especially our cricket side) the interviews become very impersonal/boring. Stock standard responses. Yawn.

I sure have met a few women that know how to ride.

Bob Brogan wrote: Lets not beat around the Bush, women are better than or as good as men at many things ( most things ) but they are way behind men on most sports ( men are physically stronger ... Fact )

Racing, there is not much between men and women jocks , but strength and bottle separates them imo , and it's not male trainers being sexist or not giving girls a shot (ask the 100's of female trainers )

Just saying

oooh Roberta...you sexist thing...

It's the short head that counts....