It was a celebrity status that was based on an uncommon talent for riding horses and her stubbornness made her the pioneer of women jockeys in New Zealand. After being turned down for an apprentice’s licence because she was a woman, Jones persisted and eventually authorities bowed to the inevitable. Her first winner was in August 1978 at Te Rapa, in October that year she rode 18 winners and by Christmas, she was second on the jockeys’ premiership. She also raced successfully in Australia, when she was also the first woman, but her biggest moment came at Trentham in 1979 when she became the first woman to win a derby, on Holy Toledo. Return to the Inductee list