I met Margaret de Gonneville when, at 14, I was a pupil at her riding school. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing this racing pioneer.
Born in New Zealand, Margaret as a child used to go to the shops in a sulky and ride a horse to school.
She moved to Australia in 1956 and not long afterwards established a riding school in Centennial Park, not far from Randwick racecourse in Sydney, in partnership with her husband, Xavier, a former French cavalry officer.
At the time Margaret established the school, a young trainer by the name of Tommy Smith was just beginning to make the racing world sit up and take notice.
Margaret, an accomplished eventing rider, began riding trackwork for Tommy. She has fond memories of those days.
“The Smith brothers — Tommy, Dick and Ernie — were wonderful to work for, always fun together,” she recalled.
“Tommy was amazing. He had an incredible eye for a horse. The majority of horses in training were bay, some with no distinguishing marks at all, yet Tommy could identify every one of his horses even if they’d only been in his stables for a few days.
“He was also a great organiser. The whole stable operation was very well organised.”
In 1974, Margaret decided to try her luck as a jockey. She rode in the first all-ladies race in Australia.
The winning rider was Queenslander Pam O’Neill, who had campaigned tirelessly for female jockeys to be recognised.
As one of a small band of female jockeys, Margaret got to ride all over Australia.
“Often, five or six of us (female riders) would get together and fly to meetings for just the cost of the fuel, because the pilots needed to clock up a certain amount of flying hours each month.”
She rode at places such as Bong Bong, the now-defunct Fisher’s Ghost track, Braidwood, which she described as a “wonderful meeting”, Broken Hill, Lightning Ridge, Launceston and Darwin — both before and after Cyclone Tracy.  
“It was great — all fares and expenses paid for,” she recalled.
It wasn’t all country tracks either. She rode at Flemington, Mooney Valley and then internationally in New Zealand, England and Ireland.
In England, Margaret met Lester Piggott and England’s great jumps jockey of the time, Peter Winton.
She had an amusing story to tell of her time in England.
“At Chester racecourse I saw this big, wide, red carpet laid out on the grass, which I thought was pretty unusual. I didn’t take much notice of it and walked along it to the stands. On my way back though, an official pulled me aside and told me that the carpet had been laid down for the arrival of the Queen Mother, not for the general public.”
Margaret rode for seven years in Australia and was leading lady rider for six of those years, riding against the best, including Linda Jones as well as Pam O’Neill.
In 1981, Margaret took out her trainer’s licence.
Her greatest success came when she won the Breeders’ Plate at Randwick with My Master Zero, who defeated subsequent Golden Slipper winner Inspired.
These days, Margaret has a small team in work at Port Macquarie. She still thoroughly enjoys racing and why wouldn’t she? It has provided her with many wonderful memories.
Marathon to Mawby, Mick
Last Friday saw the running of NSW’s longest race, the 3800-metre Mitchell Park Riverina Gold Cup, at Wagga Wagga.
Unfortunately for the Murrumbidgee Turf Club, the field fell away to just four runners after the race, scheduled for last month, had to be postponed.
The marathon was won by Mawby, trained by Kyneton-based Mick Sell and ridden by apprentice Jason Collins. Cashzoo finished second, with Grand Dette third.
Odds-on favourite Mutual Trust, a Group 1 winner in France in 2011, loomed up in the straight but weakened to run last.
Ghost too good
On Sunday a capacity field lined up for the Stacks Law Firm Taree Cup (2000m).
Phrases went straight to the lead and stayed there until the field entered the straight.
With the field fanning and challengers coming from everywhere, it was the Paul Perry-trained Ghost Protocol, ridden by expatriate Frenchman Thomas Huet, who swept down the outside to draw clear and claim victory in the $60,000 event.