Daily Mail, Thursday, August 1, 2019 Page 23
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Galloping
into history,
girl jockey
who’ll ride
in a hijab at
Glorious
Goodwood
She learned to ride at the charity
Ebony Horse Club, in nearby Brix-
ton, after her mother saw a leaflet
in a shop window.
The school was so popular that
when Khadijah signed up aged
nine, she was put on the waiting
list for two years. She has since
become a strong rider – although
she sat on a racehorse for the first
time only a few months ago.
Her big break came when her
mentor, ITV presenter Oli Bell,
entered a rider from the small rid-ing school in the Magnolia Cup.
‘She is a titan, and an incredibly
determined young girl, who is
proving that it is possible for
somebody from her background
to do this,’ he said.
‘In this day and age I think it is
important not just for the eyes of
the racing world to see this, but
the eyes of the world.’
While at a ride out at Newmar-
ket racecourse earlier this year,
Khadijah tried to spot any otherwomen of colour among the 200
riders – and found just one.
Now, taking her role as a flag-
bearer for Muslim women riders in
her stride, Khadijah insists that
she ‘loves surprising people’.
‘I want to one day be someone
that someone looks up to and
thinks, “you know what, I can do
that”,’ she said. She added that
standing out from the rest of the
jockeys does not ‘faze’ her. ‘It
makes me feel blessed because notmany people get the opportunity
to represent. It adds a little mean-
ing to life,’ she told the BBC. She
added: ‘People have been very wel-
coming to the prospect of having a
new face in the jockey industry.
‘Sometimes it’s hard explaining
my background over and over
again to lots of different people,
but generally I like explaining
where I’ve come from and how I’ve
got to where I have.’
And this journey has not always
been an easy one, Khadijah
insisted. ‘My introduction to race
horses started off a bit rocky. They
were quite scary at first.’
The teenager admitted she was
a ‘nervous wreck’ before her first
gallop, adding: ‘It was quite a
shock how fast you go.’
The handyman’s daughter will
be riding Irish bay Haverlandtoday, and though she knows the
odds are stacked against her, she
is aiming for a top three finish.
Despite her rapid progression on
to this high-profile stage, the
young jockey has decided to pur-
sue a career in mechanical engi-
neering. She said: ‘I am definitely
going to try to get involved in
more charity races and I want to
keep up riding out racehorses.
‘But I want to go to university
and hopefully come out with a
degree, and then pursue an engi-
neering career. Then maybe come
back to riding again. We’ll see.’
The five-furlong and 110-yard
flat race on the third day of the
meet will raise funds for health-
care charity Wellbeing of Women.
Khadijah is taking part in a doc-
umentary – Riding A Dream –
which will be aired this autumn.BEFORE April this year, Khadijah Mellah
had never sat on a racehorse.
But the 18-year-old will make history today – in
front of a crowd of 25,000 at Glorious Goodwood –
as she becomes the first jockey to race in Britain
wearing a hijab.
The teenager from Peckham, south London, will also
be the first female British Muslim jockey when she rides
in the Magnolia Cup, a ladies-only charity race.
She will take her place in the stalls alongside 11 other
amateurs, including Olympic cyclist turned Chelten-
ham Festival jockey Victoria Pendleton and model
Vogue Williams.
Khadijah, who is the only Muslim at her sixth form,
has just finished her A-levels and is going on to study
mechanical engineering at university in September.Daily Mail, Thursday,August 1, 2019
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Front runner:
Riders at
GoodwoodRacing into the history books: Khadijah Mellah at the stables and,
inset, outside Brixton station, near her home in south LondonBy George OdlingRadio 2’s Zoe loses 800k listeners as Ken hits top spot
ZOE Ball has lost nearly 800,000 listeners in
just three months on her BBC Radio 2
Breakfast Show which recorded it lowest
audience figure since 2010.
In a further blow, Miss Ball, 48, has been
overtaken by mid-morning host Ken
Bruce, 68, as Britain’s most listened to
radio DJ although her show is still the
country’s most popular over breakfast.Her weekly audience of 8.3million from
April to mid-June was down 780,000 lis-
teners on the previous three months – her
first in charge since taking over from Chris
Evans in January when the 53-year-old
moved to Virgin Radio. Evans had 800,000
more listeners than Ball at the BBC show
over the same period last year.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Audience churnis expected when major schedule
changes are made.’ At Virgin, Evans’ fig-
ures are up from 1.05million to 1.1million.
Classic FM’s breakfast show is also
celebrating after the decision to hire BBC
veteran Moira Stewart to read its
news has been rewarded with 250,000
extra listeners.
The ‘Moira effect’ is thought to be amajor factor behind its surge to
1.9million listeners.
But Radio 4’s Today programme has lost
300,000 listeners, down to 6.9 million. That
reversed the BBC flagship show’s upward
trend between January and March.Picture: ANTONIO OLMOS/GUARDIAN/EYEVINEPAUL THOMAS IS AWAY