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life

pin. I was worried that it would

come undone and, needing both

arms on the oars, I wouldn’t be

able to do anything about it.’

But karate was her first love. She

took classes at the Damilola Taylor

Centre in Peckham, a community

centre set up to commemorate the

victim of one of Britain’s most

shocking killings.

Damilola Taylor was just ten

when CCTV footage captured him

skipping across a shopping

precinct on his way home from the

library on November 27, 2000.

Fifteen minutes later he was

bleeding to death in a stairwell, an

innocent victim of gang violence.

Did the revulsion over his

senseless death change Britain?

Some would argue not, since

London is still plagued with knife

crime (there have been 84

killings in the capital so far this

year, and 2018 was the city’s

bloodiest year ever).

But how do you assess the impact

of community initiatives, like the

building of a community centre in

Damilola’s name?

Certainly, Khadijah, who was

born the year after the lad died,

credits that centre with making

things possible for her. Karate

increased her fitness, and she

thrived in the disciplined environ-

ment. ‘I think all sport offers that,

a sense of discipline and structure,

which is great.’

J

UST as her parents encour-

aged her to do her best at

school (‘and they still think

that I should get a degree

first, whatever I want to do long-

term’), they also encouraged their

children to busy themselves with

extra-curricular activities.

‘After school, they encouraged us

to do sports. I don’t think they

ever thought of us getting involved

in gang culture,’ she says.

But you don’t have to be involved

to get caught up in the violence.

She knows this only too well. I ask

if she recognises the Brixton she

sees in the news — a place of

violence and gangs. She says yes,

to a point. ‘I know a friend who

was stabbed, killed. He went to my

primary school and he was a lovely

boy. It was really shocking because

it was the first person I’d known

that this had happened to. The

community was devastated.’

But she hates that such killings

send a negative message about the

area to a wider audience.

‘It’s a shame that people only see

that side of Brixton or Peckham.

And it’s a vicious circle because

there is a cloud of negativity, which

then keeps the loop of violence

going,’ she says. ‘It’s why organisa-

tions like Ebony are important.

‘There are people there from

poorer backgrounds, even some

who have been involved in gang

violence. Sometimes it’s just about

finding a better set of friends.’

She is an informed and articulate

teenager, with a great sense of self-

worth. We talk a little about her

faith. She says it underpins her life,

but she sees religion as ‘separate’

from tradition. ‘I don’t think they

are linked. You choose your reli-

gion. I choose to wear the hijab.’

And she wears it with ease. But it

hasn’t always been that simple.

She says she was the only Muslim

girl in her Sixth Form at Syden-

ham High School, and did struggle

to get the balance between joining

in with other girls, and ‘staying

true to my own faith’.

She is referring to both in dress,

and in lifestyle. ‘It wasn’t always

easy to keep a strong and steady

character when you want to be a

normal teenager, but I’ve got more

confident as I’ve got older. Sport

helps with that, too.’

Who are Khadijah’s role models?

On a horse, of course, it’s Hayley

Turner, who she says has taught

her so much about racing. In the

wider sense, she speaks of athlete

Manal Rostom, who runs an online

support group called Surviving

Hijab, and campaigns for more

opportunities for Muslim women

in sport.

Now Khadijah herself has become

something of a trailblazer. In the

autumn, a documentary about her

racing will be shown.

The brainchild of ITV racing pre-

senter Oli Bell (a patron of the

charity which taught her to ride),

the film will follow her training.

And then?

It’s a little too early to say

whether she is considering a career

as a jockey. There is the small

matter of an engineering degree to

get out of the way first.

If she gets the grades, she will be

off to Leeds University. Are there

riding opportunities nearby? ‘I

hope so,’ she says. ‘As soon as I’d

raced like that, I thought: “I want

to do that again.” ’

n RIDING A Dream, which

follows Khadijah’s journey from

Peckham to her historic victory

at Goodwood, will air on

ITV in the autumn.

Jubilant:

Khadijah

shows the

style that

won a

brilliant

victory at

Goodwood

Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 7, 2019

She’s a handyman’s daughter

from Peckham who’s lost a

schoolfriend to knife crime. Yet

Khadijah, 18, has just become

Britain’s first hijab-wearing

jockey — and won a trophy

at Glorious Goodwood.

But that’s just one

talent of this

truly astonishing

young woman...

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