Racing presenter Francesca Cumani has spoken of her ‘joy’ at seeing Hollie Doyle ride her first Group One winner and believes it won’t be long before there’s a female champion jockey.

Cumani was at Ascot as Doyle brought home Glen Shiel last weekend in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes.

“Like everyone, [I felt] a real sense of joy for her, for her achievements, the way she was able to light up the screen and bring so much positivity to the day,” she told NewsChain.

Doyle’s win came after she broke her own British record just days earlier for the number of winners in a year by a woman.

The 24-year-old secured her 117th victory of 2020 on filly State Occasion at Kempton.

Which all adds weight to Cumani’s belief that Doyle could one day become Champion Jockey.

She said: "If Hollie keeps going at the rate that she's going, I don't think that long."

And Cumani believes Doyle is paving the way for other women in the sport.

"I think I've said it for quite a long time. I strongly believe that female jockeys can be and are just as good as male jockeys if only they get the opportunities.

“So I would hope that her breaking new ground will just open new doors for more female jockeys wanting to follow in her footsteps.”

Doyle’s success has also brought into focus the debate about reference each time to her being a ‘female’ jockey as  opposed to simply a ‘jockey’.

“That's a bit of a difficult one because from a broadcaster’s point of view, when she wins a big race like that you do make a point of it being a first female jockey to win on champions day, Hollie Doyle's first group one and you can’t completely avoid the subject,” says Cumani. 

“But yes, I would like to be at a point where it's so commonplace for female jockeys to be winning group ones on big days that it doesn't become a subject anymore because it's not a first essentially.

"It's funny because Equestrian disciplines are the only ones where men and women compete on a level playing field. Be it eventing or show jumping or dressage, polo even and then those disciplines they don't go ‘oh it was a female rider who won Badminton or Burghley’ because it happens a lot.

"So when do I think it will be? I don’t know. The successes of the likes of Hollie, of Rachael Blackmore even Hayley Turner who was the one who did break ground a few years back but I suppose it has taken time and it's taken a  new wave of momentum to get to this point.

"While I think it's dependant on the female jockeys that we've got to keep having these successes, it's about the opportunities they're given and the trainers and the owners who are willing to give them.

“It's funny, it's a bit of a snowball affect whereby if one trainer gives them an opportunity then another one will and another owner will go 'well actually if that owner is doing it then I'll do it too’.”

One disappointment for Doyle as she landed her first Group One was the absence of a crowd, something Cumani says is having a ‘severe impact’ on the sport.

"Well the financial impact is pretty severe in terms of race courses haven't been able to have people on track so that's massively impacted their finances, which has in turn impacted on prize money going back to owners, trainers and jockeys.

"So that is a big subject. In terms of racegoers I think they, thankfully with racing being able to continue behind closed doors, they've still been able to enjoy the sport from home and thankfully we've still been able to bring them that product.

“And owners, I think it's difficult because a lot of the benefit of owning a racehorse in England is the race day experience, the outing, the thrill of going to see your horse racing. If you can’t do that, combined with poor prize money levels, it does start making you question the benefits of having a horse in training, so that for me is very severe.”

Cumani is obviously keen for the crowds to return but she’s also realistic about the current situation.

"They attempted a couple of pilot days which have then, because of rules from government, they haven't been able to continue. Personally I think there are manageable ways of allowing people on a race course whilst keeping it safe.

“So I'd like to think it would be one of the first ones back with spectators, but in this current climate, heading into the winter with more of these localised lockdowns, with more strict measures, I think we need to look at the small mercies and make sure racing continues behind closed doors to start with and then, as and when, we can try and hope for spectators to come back.”

Right at  the start of the pandemic there was the outcry over the Cheltenham Festival going ahead, but Cumani believes the criticism aimed at the event was unfair.

"I strongly believe Cheltenham did the right thing at the right time because they were going on what they were being told by the Government. They weren't being told to not hold the event so they didn't not hold the event.

"At the same time you had football matches, rugby matches, concerts going on, so I think it's been unfair how the spotlight has been put on Cheltenham.

“But then I'm always someone who questions why, why was Cheltenham given a much harder time than those others sports and other entertainments? I think that's probably the bigger question.”