LEONNA MAYOR is the stunning Sky Sports racing presenter who has been labelled the ‘world’s sexiest jockey’.
A former Flat rider, she now stars on At The Races and does video and radio for bookies William Hill.
Mayor, 30, recently made headlines for her criticism of top rider Ryan Moore.
While acknowledging he was an ‘amazing jockey’, Mayor was less than pleased with his demeanour in front of camera.
This came about after an awkward exchange with Mayor’s fellow Sky Sports presenter Bob Cooper at Wolverhampton racecourse.
Mayor labelled Moore, who has earned more than £29million during his career, ‘rude and unnecessary’.
And she said Moore’s decision to walk away abruptly at the end of the curt interview made him and Cooper ‘look stupid’.
Mayor has won fans over with her straight-talking style and is not afraid to call it how she sees it.
That was clear years ago when talking about how an ankle injury halted her promising career in the saddle.
With 32 winners to her name in the five seasons from 2009 to 2013 it looked like she was set for superstardom – until the knock forced her into other ideas.
She stopped competing in 2013, and all credit to her for realising the importance of a life outside of racing.
The Oxford Mail reported how Mayor got involved with Racing for Change, the organisation responsible for making the sport more consumer-friendly.
That association led to Mayor doing a photoshoot for Zoo magazine in 2013 – who labelled her the ‘world’s sexiest jockey – and a growing national profile.
Speaking of her decision to branch out and try new things, Mayor said: “I love racing but it’s hard.
“Everybody works really hard in the sport. For some people it just happens, but for others it doesn’t.
“I feel a lot of the time that although I have ridden 32 winners, it may as well be two.”
And commenting on her decision to pose for the lads’ mag, Mayor said: “There really were only a few people that had adverse opinion about what I did.
“Everybody else was very positive about it all.”
Mayor’s emergence as one of the top TV presenters comes at a booming time for women in racing.
Hollie Doyle capped off her record-breaking year by becoming the first jockey since AP McCoy in 2013 to be nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
Legendary Jumps trainer Paul Nicholls’ daughter Megan has been chalking off winners.
And the likes of Hayley Turner – who celebrated a 100-1 bet coming in after riding a 14-1 winner – along with Bryony Frost, Rachael Blackmore and others continue to enjoy great success.
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