Shirley Teasdale Interview

Shirley Teasdale is already making a bit of a name for herself in the Northern tracks of England, both on fibresand and on the turf. Just like many others in the sport she is pushing to enhance the strength of females taking part in the sport, just like Siobhan Miller in my previous interview. Not yet at the heights of fellow female weighing room colleagues Hayley Turner and Kirsty Milczarek, but well on her way already riding out her 7 pound claim. She has also answered any critics left in the sport by proving her worth against the boys time and time again, leaving no room for doubt about her riding abilities.

Teasdale began her love of horses at a young age when only 10 years old and described herself to having a 'need for speed'. What better dream to have than to become a jockey, which she was firmly set on becoming even at such a young age. She began to help out and ride at Barry Murtagh's yard situated in Cumbria near her hometown of Carlisle when she was 14 to until she left school. After leaving school she went to work for Nicky Richards, this is where things began to pick up for Shirley in a big way.

In order to pursue her dreams of becoming a jockey she moved to Noel Wilson's yard, known for such horses as Latalomne and Stallone, where she would become his apprentice. Along with that move came her first ride at Ayr aboard the 4 year old Gelding, Red Skipper in a Mile long Apprentice Handicap. She was handy the whole way and up just behind the pace, but couldn't quicken when push came to shove and settled for a more than respectable fourth aboard the 14/1 shot. She would go on to partner Red Skipper a further two times at Newcastle and Musselburgh without success.

After she had finished at Wilson's yard she moved on to the powerful yard of Dandy Nicholls, renowned for his sprinters. At the age of just 19 she rode her first winner at her local track of Carlisle for him, aboard the lightly race three year old, One Pursuit with two wins to his name. Like her first ride she was handy the whole way and travelled best for much of the race under a calm yet inevitably excited Shirley Teasdale. One Pursuit looked the winner for much of the straight and even more so when switching to outside of the leader Sea The Storm 2 furlongs out. but it wasn't until the furlong marker till her urgings carried One Pursuit to the front and quickly scampered clear from the chasing Madison Square. The final winning distance was 4 lengths and this cued the start of Shirley Teasdale's uprise.

Watch her first winning ride on the link below.

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/results/24-07-2011/carlisle/result/448247/paije-richardson-live-handicap/video?token=edd682573f

Since that day in 2011 she has started picking up rides from a variety of trainers, most recently from Alan McCabe at Wolverhampton on Saturday night riding Sextons House. As mentioned before she has ridden out her seven pound claim, and there is only a matter of time until she rides out her five pound claim. Like many young jockeys the coming flat season will be a big one, but for Shirley it will be especially important as more rides start coming in and winners mount up.

The future looks bright for Miss Teasdale and that is helped by the fact that she is popular amongst fellow jockeys in the weighing room. Since 2009 her smile and laugh have been lighting up tracks across northern England, but personally I hope we get to see her in action more frequently on the southern based courses along her career. You can next catch her in action aboard Medam at Southwell on Tuesday afternoon and we wish her the best of luck with the ride.

Racing has itself another driving force in the female ranks with Shirley and I'm sure she is a jockey we will be seeing more of very soon. Id like to take this chance to thank the lovely and bubbly Shirley Teasdale for taking the time to talk to me about herself, you can follow her on her personal twitter account @ShirleyTeasdal1. Alternatively you can follow me on twitter where I update this blog every week and whenever I can on @Lukeyboy1325. I think its clear who has the more sensible twitter name!

I leave this article with an interview I conducted recently along with the help of Shirley.



Favourite Racecourse? Carlisle rode my first winner there and it's my home track Favourite Racehorse of all time? One pursuit my first winner
Favourite Racehorse running now? It's a tie between desert creek and imperial legend both horses did me proud last year
Funniest guy/girl in the jockey room? Always have a good laugh with all the girls 
Racing idol? Hayley turner and Cathy Gannon 
Flat or Jumps? Flat 
Royal Ascot or Cheltenham Festival? Royal Ascot 
Do you have a party trick you are willing to share? I can do a handstand if that counts :p
If I were to be generous and give you a tenner for one horse in the National who would it go on? Imperial commander (stick to riding)
If you had the chance to ride any horse in all its races next season who would it be and why? Black caviar would be some buzz 
Racing UK or Attheraces? Both :) 
If you weren't a jockey what would you be? Bored for a start but probably an archeologist 
Matt Chapman or Nick Luck? Matt chapman 
Strictly or X Factor? X factor 
Ryan Moore or Frankie?  Ryan Moore 
Favourite sport other than Horse Racing? Cycling 
First Car? Corsa 
Favourite Band? Youmeatsix
Favourite Song? The calling-wherever you will go 
Would you rather ride a winner at Royal Ascot, the Breeders Cup or the Dubai Carnival? Royal ascot 
Preferred drink on a night out? Strawberry Daiquiri 

Name a jockey to do this next? Natasha Eaton

And finally, as always, who is the longest in the shower? Rachael kneller is definitely the best turned out :)


Thanks to Shirley, hopefully we can get Natasha Eaton on here next!

Thank you for reading.