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JENNY PITMAN OBE |
| Jenny Pitman was born in 1946 on a small farm in Leicester, the fourth of seven children. Her father, George was a tenant farmer who 'kept a few of everything'. With no electricity, gas supply or mains water, it was a hard way of life & every member of the family had to keep up with their work. Jenny grew up surrounded by animals. |
| The first horse she knew was her Dad's old carthorse Nellie who did nearly everything around the farm - her earliest riding memory was of sitting on Nellie's broadback. On leaving secondary school in 1960, Jenny started work in a racehorse training yard where she started at the bottom & learnt everything she could. She obtained a trainer's license in her own name in 1975 when it was still very rare for women to be trainers. |
| Following the breakdown of her marriage, Jenny moved in 1976 with her young sons, Mark & Paul, into Weathercock House & over the years Jenny transformed it from a 19-box dilapidated yard into an 80-box modern training establishment. In 1999 on her retirement from training, Jenny's son Mark took over & continues to train racehorses there. |
| Jenny has had an incredibly successful career as a trainer. She sent out some 800 winners including; The Grand National twice with Corbiere & Royal Athlete & the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice with Burrough Hill Lad & Garrison Savannah (the latter ridden by her son Mark in 1991 who was a professional jockey at this point). Her National win with Corbiere in 1983 was the first by a woman trainer & she is still the only woman to have done so. |
| Jenny also won the Scottish Grand National & the Welsh equivalent three times as well as the King George VI Steeplechase & Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup. With a win at the 1997 Irish National, Jenny joined only one other trainer in history in winning all the Grand Nationals in England & Ireland. She also trained the winners of the King George VI Steeplechase, The Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, The Welsh Champion Hurdle & many other big races. |
| Jenny was awarded the OBE for services to racing in 1998, won the National Hunt Trainer of the Year Award in 1983 & 1984 & has received several other awards for lifetime achievement, including the first Helen Rollason Award in 1999, which was particularly poignant as it was in memory of a great & dear friend. |
| Her autobiography Jenny Pitman was published in 1998 & became the best-selling racing book ever. On retirement from training, Jenny & her husband David moved just a few miles down the road. |
| Jenny remains one of the most popular figures from the world of racing & audiences enjoy hearing her life story & the business messages she has to share about her extraordinary career. |
For more information on Jenny Pitman, Contact Arena. Tel: 0113-239-2222 |