Ladies in Silks

When the specter of girl jockeys first reared its comely head, the boys in the tack room sneered in their silks. "If I can't outride a girl," growled one jockey, "I'll send my wife out here to take my place." "What's next?" asked an other. "Topless go-go riders?"

The jockeys' complaint was that a fragile female simply could not handle 1,000 Ibs. of race horse charging through the pack. There are hazards enough, they pointed out, without girl jockeys falling all over the track. But gradually, after several attempts to "boycott the broads," the jockeys relented, reckoning that the girls would hang up their tack once they were exposed to the grueling grind of racing for pay. That was nearly two months ago. Now there are five girl jockeys racing at parimutuel flat tracks across the U.S., and they are confidently grabbing for the rail position.

For years, girls have entered steeplechases as well as quarter-horse and harness-racing events. But big-time racing has been strictly a man's preserve. Not any more. Officially recognizing the female entries, Delaware's new Dover Downs scheduled the world's first fully mixed event this week, billing it as the "Jack and Jill race" and identifying the female riders as "jockettes." At Lincoln Downs, the track bugler her alded the racing debut of Mary Clayson, a 32-year-old mother of two, with a rendition of Mame--her nickname. The girl jockeys are thriving on the ex posure like latter-day Lady Godivas. As of last week, they had finished in the money 25 times in 56 starts.

Ambush in the Clubhouse. Diane Crump, 20, a pert strawberry blonde who made the first breakthrough on Feb. 7 at Hialeah, whipped home a winner her sixth time out of the gate. "A horse," she explains, "doesn't know whether the rider on his back wears a dress or pants away from the track." Tuesdee Testa, 27, the wife of a stable foreman and the mother of a two-year-old daughter, won at Santa Anita in her second race. She has also been initiated into the perils of her new trade: at Aqueduct two weeks ago, Jockey Willie Lester cut her off out of the gate, an unchivalrous act that caused Tuesdee to finish eighth and earned Willie a ten-day suspension. Sandy Schleiffers, 22, a 4-ft, 11-in., 98-lb. package of determination, learned her trade racing quarter horses at bush tracks. She wears no makeup and keeps her hair close-cropped because "I'm working in a man's world and I don't want anybody doing me favors because I'm a girl. I know I can ride as good as most men, and I intend to prove it."

Cotton in the Ears. Barbara Jo Rubin, 19, has already proved it. When she rode two winners on the same day at Waterford Park in Chester, W. Va., touts dismissed it as beginner's luck at a small-stakes track. Then she went to Aqueduct and, with pigtails flying, ran away from the field aboard an untried 13-1 shot named Bravy Galaxy. Quashing the cynics was gratifying, she says, but her biggest thrill was having the jockeys ambush her and douse her with a bucket of water, a traditional ceremony after an apprentice rider's first win at the Big A. "To me," said Barbara Jo, who during a jockey boycott at Tropical Park had her dressing-room window smashed by a rock, "that meant that I was finally accepted by the jockeys." It was about time. By last week she chalked up an astonishing eleven victories in 22 starts.

For Barbara Jo, success is like a rerun on the late, late show. At age eight, she explains, "I saw Liz Taylor in National Velvet on TV, and from that time on I had my heart set on riding horses." She began her training at riding academies in Miami. After a year of a pre-veterinary course in junior college, she became an exercise girl at Tropical Park. Then, after repeated tries at breaking the sex barrier, she rode and won her first race six weeks ago in Charles Town, W. Va. "Horse racing is pretty rank [rough]," she admits, but she guards herself from rank track language by stuffing her ears with cotton before each race. Though some jockeys still resent women encroaching on their livelihood, their ranks cannot help looking up to Barbara Jo. At 5 ft. 5 in., she says, "most of the jockeys only come up to my shoulders. So when they go to take a group picture, I kind of bend my knees."

As if the jockeys' tender egos weren't bruised enough already, Barbara Jo has another little feminine squelcher up her silken sleeve. Come May 3, she plans to ride Picnic Fare at Churchill Downs--thus becoming the first girl jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby.

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