Nichola Yuen's Hong Kong Debut And The Pioneers Who Made It Possible

Hong Kong now has two female jockeys. Shane Dye recalls the trailblazing talents of world racing who changed the sport

Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu starts her career in Hong Kong this week. She should be excited – but the news brought back memories for me.

I was 11 years old, standing at the Matamata races in New Zealand, the day Linda Jones had her first ride. It was 1978. Linda had created a storm. Women weren't allowed to ride in races. But through relentless lobbying and public pressure, she and her supporters forced the hand of racing administrators and women were granted a license in New Zealand that year.

The day of her first ride, there was press everywhere. It was unlike anything I'd seen at a country meeting. A week later she rode her first winner at Te Rapa on a horse called Big Bikkies – and the reaction was like the first person landing on the moon. A woman had won a race. In 1978, that was unbelievable.

Linda Jones was the pioneer in New Zealand. It took another year for Australia to catch up, through Pam O'Neill in Queensland. She wrote more than 140 letters to racing administrators pleading for the right to compete professionally against men. If it wasn't for women like Jones and O'Neill nearly 50 years ago – lobbying, pleading, refusing to go away – then Nichola Yuen and Hong Kong's other female apprentice Britney Wong Po-ni may not even have a license today.

Since those pioneers, there have been some outstanding female jockeys. In America, Julie Krone won over 3,700 races, became the first woman to win a Triple Crown event, and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. Chantal Sutherland would be familiar to Hong Kong fans from her appearances at Happy Valley. They set the bar. In New Zealand I rode against Maree Lyndon and Lisa Allpress – both very good jockeys.

In Australia, I will never forget the 2015 Melbourne Cup. I was at Flemington when Michelle Payne won on Prince of Penzance at 100-to-1. I had tears in my eyes. It was so good for racing. A woman winning the Melbourne Cup – nobody expected it. The ride won the race. You could run that Melbourne Cup 100 times again and the horse would never win once.

Then last year, Jamie Melham won the Melbourne Cup on Half Yours after also taking out the Caulfield Cup – the first woman to win the Cups double. She is an outstanding rider. Hollie Doyle and Rachel King have been successful, too. Look at Brisbane – Angela Jones became the first woman to win the city jockeys' premiership last season, with Emily Lang right behind her. Angela is one to watch.

The bigger picture is this: more women become apprentices because they love horses and it's in their blood. Many girls grow up in pony clubs, and once horses get into their blood, they don't lose it. Pony clubs are a genuine pathway to professional race riding in Australia and New Zealand. A lot of men take up riding because they're small and someone says to them, "Why don't you try to be a jockey?" That's a very different motivation.

I won't see it in the next 20 or 30 years, but I can promise you this: in 50 years, there will be more female jockeys than men. The weight scale and the pathway into the sport make it inevitable.

Good luck to Nichola. Hong Kong racing is as competitive an arena as there is anywhere in the world for jockeys. But she has the history of 50 years of pioneers behind her.