Book description
Jenny Pitman's success has been won against the odds. An outsider in
the privileged world of racing, she has nevertheless turned herself
into one of the most successful trainers in Britain today. And as a
woman in a male-dominated profession, she has been forced to work
doubly hard for her achievements.
Jenny's love of horses has dominated her life. Born on a modest
Leicestershire farm without gas, electricity or running water, she
joined a racing yard at the age of fifteen. While still in her teens
she married jockey Richard Pitman, and together they set up a stable.
Before long, Jenny became one of the very first women to be granted a
professional licence to train horses. Despite the subsequent break-up
of her marriage and financial hardship, Jenny soon managed to
establish herself in her own right as a fully fledged trainer.
Since then, horses such as Garrison Savannah and Burrough Hill Lad
have etched the Pitman name deeply in the record books. Jenny has
trained the winners of all five major Nationals and two Cheltenham
Gold Cups. With Corbiere in 1983 Jenny became the first woman trainer
to win the Grand National - and she is still the only one to have done
so. In 1993 her horse Esha Ness won the 'National that never was'. Two
years later the notoriously difficult horse Royal Athlete won her this
prestigious race for a second time.
The success of Jenny's Lambourn stables has been very much a family
affair. Like his father, Jenny's son Mark also became a successful
jockey. He rode many of her horses to victory, and on retiring as a
jockey worked as assistant trainer to his mother before setting up on
his own. In 1997, after an eighteen-year engagement, Jenny married her
long-term companion, David Stait. In the 1998 New Year's Honours list
she was awarded the OBE.
Her fierce will to succeed, her tenacity and her courage to fight
for what she believes in, both professionally and personally - these
are the foundations on which Jenny Pitman has built her life. Her
frank and lively autobiography reflects this spirit.
Jenny Pitman lives in Lambourn, Berkshire with her husband David
Stait. Known as one of the all-time greats of the racing world, she now
writes novels and feature articles, and makes regular television
appearances.
