Newmarket to Name Race After its Forgotten First Lady

Newmarket racecourse in the UK is to rename a race after the first woman ever to train racehorses. The Ellen Chaloner Stakes will be a Listed race for three-year-old fillies (formerly the Kilvington Stakes) at the Newmarket Guineas Festival (May 6). Today’s announcement has been timed by the Jockey Club to mark International Women’s Day.

The UK’s first women trainers were generally noted as Florence Nagle and Norah Wilmot, who won the right after a high court action in 1966. Six years ago, researcher Esther Harper found a reference to Chaloner as a “racehorse trainer” in the 1891 British census, but the history books continued to ignore her.

Members of the Chaloner family will be present at The Rowley Mile on QIPCO 2000 Guineas Day, May 6th, for the inaugural running of The Ellen Chaloner Stakes. (Mark Westley/The Jockey Club)

Her many descendants, including former Irish champion jump jockey Charlie Swan, began campaigning for Chaloner’s formal recognition. This has now borne fruit. The simple wooden cross marking her grave in Newmarket cemetery is to be replaced by a headstone, and a portrait of Chaloner riding side-saddle will be displayed over the Guineas weekend.

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Chaloner was born into the Osborne family, who were steeped in racing. She married the 13-times Classic winning jockey Tom Chaloner. He later trained from the family’s 19 stables at Osborne House. The mother of eight was widowed in her early 40s and in 1886 made a special plea to continue to use Newmarket Heath for her late husband’s horses. She was given a permit but intended to be taken very seriously; the following year she saddled a Royal Ascot winner, Jersey Lily, in the Triennial Stakes.

The old census also shows that three of the Ellen’s children were living with her in 1891, plus three stable men, three apprentice jockeys and a domestic servant. “When you consider the number of people who reported to her and the number of horses she was responsible for, it was quite a significant business,” says Dr Harper.

She was still riding out in her early 90s, and her opinion on horses was keenly sought until her death at the age of 98. She was also quite a character. Susie Wilks, her great-granddaughter said, “She was a very formidable lady but very deaf in her later years – my mother used to say it was always quite embarrassing having conversations with her because most of the racecourse could hear!”

Charlie Swan said, “When I started riding, my mum kept telling me that my great-great- grandmother and father used to ride and train horses, but it sort of went over my head a little bit when I was that age. It’s only in the last few years that I suddenly realised where my riding talents probably came from!”

Osborne House still has 19 boxes and is now the overflow yard for Sir Mark Prescott.