Hayley Turner has announced her retirement from the saddle with immediate effect.
The 42-year-old became the first female jockey to ride a Group One winner outright in Britain when partnering Dream Ahead to victory in the July Cup in 2011, following up with another top-level success aboard Margot Did in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York the following month.
Turner, who rode Spirit Of Jura to win at Southwell on Wednesday, also said she is expecting her first child in October.
In a statement, Turner said: “I have decided to retire from being a jockey following my winner at Southwell, especially as I had my first ride at the racecourse on March 27, 2000.
“I am very excited to also announce that I am having a baby in October, all being well, which I have been planning for the last two years. My family and I are all very excited.
“I would like to thank everyone that has supported me over the years especially Michael Bell, David Simcock, Andrew Balding and Harry Eustace. I would also like to thank my riding agent, Guy Jewell, who has been my agent for the majority of my career.
“I am looking forward to my next life chapter, but will be focusing on the baby in the short term.”
Turner was a trailblazer for female riders on the Flat, with her accolades including becoming the first woman to ride 100 winners in a calendar year in 2008 and the first European woman to ride 1,000 international winners in November 2023. She completed her 1,000th British success last July.
The rider has certainly enjoyed many ups but there have also been some downs during her career, notably suffering serious head injuries in a Newmarket gallops fall in March 2009 and damage to her pelvis and vertebrae following a fall at Doncaster in 2013.
Turner initially retired from the weighing room at the end of 2015 to embark on a media career, but she returned to the saddle to ride at her favourite Shergar Cup meeting in 2016 before later opting to resume her career in France, where female riders were offered a weight advantage.
She eventually returned to Britain and enjoyed her best year subsequently when riding 48 winners in 2021, with the Eustace-trained Docklands her star ride in recent seasons, winning the 2023 Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot and taking second behind Charyn in the Queen Anne last term.
Turner rode her first Royal Ascot winner in the 2019 Sandringham Handicap
Turner and Bell enjoyed a lengthy partnership, highlighted by Margot Did, and the Newmarket handler hailed her ability in the saddle, as well as her determination to make her riding mark.
Turner won the Nunthorpe Stakes aboard Margot Did in 2011
He said: “It makes me very happy to hear her great news and she’s such a lovely, kind, loving person and I’m delighted for her that she’s going to be a mummy.
“We go back a long way and achieved a lot together and I’m thrilled she’s got out on her own terms with some very happy personal news.
“We’ve had some great days together, Margot Did winning the Nunthorpe being one of them. But I just remember her riding as a 7lb apprentice when she had barely had a winner and going up against senior jockeys and big names in a finish, and I can’t remember if she won or not, but I always remember thinking ‘my god, you can ride’.
“She was always on time and always smart and just a very good role model for anyone, regardless of sex, who wanted to get on well as a jockey.
“A lot of thanks go to my owners who backed my decision to support her and she held the job down very well and obviously she got derailed by a few nasty tumbles, but it doesn’t take away the six, seven, eight great years we had together.”
Turner also struck up a fruitful relationship with Simcock, encompassing Group One glory with not only Dream Ahead but also I’m A Dreamer, who gave the pair a notable verdict when lifting the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park in 2012.
Simcock said: “Working with Hayley has been a great pleasure, she’s a proper professional and she’s a great rider who is good at her job and never let me down, but most importantly she’s just a really nice person.
“I’m delighted for her and she retires with nothing to prove, she’s done everything she can do and now it’s on to the next step of having a family.
“We were lucky enough to have some brilliant days, Dream Ahead being one and I’m A Dreamer the other, but just working with her day-in, day-out and enjoying those other winners together that are just as important has been great as well.”
