LEGENDARY racehorse trainer John Gosden is used to strolling into the winners’ enclosures of the world’s best racecourses.
Stradivarius, Golden Horn, Enable and Co have all cemented the iconic horseman’s status as one of the best trainers ever.
But he will have to share the limelight at Glorious Goodwood, when his stunning daughter Thea takes to the track.
She was one of the 12 names announced for this year’s Magnolia Cup.
Thea will take her place in the line-up alongside the likes of Marco Reus’ wife Scarlett and Frankie Dettori’s daughter Ella.
Model Vogue Williams, Olympic hero Victoria Pendleton and former The Apprentice star Luisa Zissman were among the jockeys when the charity fundraiser was last run in 2019.
Thea will take to the track no doubt helped by some words of advice from her 70-year-old dad.
And she would be wise to listen given Gosden has recorded more than 3,000 winners during his storied career.
But Thea did not go down the racing career path – even though her dad had her on the back of a horse as a toddler.
She is co-founder of and director at Indigo and Ivy Events, an event planning company who specialise in ‘enchanting parties’.
One of those involved kitting out one of the carriages on the London Eye to look like a home office.
The eyes of the racing world will see how she does careering down a track at speeds of up to 40mph when the Magnolia Cup takes place on July 29.
Run over five-and-a-half furlongs, the race is this year celebrating its tenth anniversary and has raised more than £1.6million for charity.
And speaking of taking part, Thea, one of four Gosden children with brothers Thady and Sebastian and sister Serena, said: “I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be riding in the Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood on July 29 to raise money for Smart Work.
“I’m so excited to support such an incredible charity which helps a diverse range of unemployed women in need across the UK to re-enter the workplace.”
However, this year’s line up has faced criticism for not being inclusive enough.
The last time the Magnolia Cup was run it made headlines after 18-year-old Khadijah Mellah won.
She became the first hijab-wearing jockey to win a race in Britain after learning to ride in Brixton.
A perceived lack of diversity in this year’s line-up prompted Sky Sports Racing host Josh Apiafi to say: “The line-up doesn’t reflect what society or racing is currently. More should be done to get the right message out there but if we show that racing isn’t open to diversity – and this doesn’t advertise the fact that we are – then it will only have an adverse effect.
“Khadijah was a fantastic winner in 2019 but you can’t hang on one story for a race that has been running for ten years in terms of diversity.”
All the riders’ fundraising pages for 2021 can be found at smartworks.enthuse.com/cf/the-magnolia-cup
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