Pioneer returns to the Cup

Sheila Lacson looks at the Melbourne Cup line-up with pride and knows that as the first female trainer to win it, she has played a pioneering role for her gender.

Twenty-three years after Lacson’s brilliant mare Ethereal added the Melbourne Cup to her Caulfield Cup victory, Lacson is back to become one of six female trainers, as well as a record four female jockeys, in the “race that stops a nation”.

Lacson and her training partner John Simons have Knight’s Choice honors in the race but would have had two runners if Mission Of Love had not been canceled on Friday.

The female jockeys who will compete on Tuesday’s program are Jamie Ka (Okita Sushi), Rachel King (Map), Winona Costin (Positivity) and Holly Doyle (Sea King) as they aim to join Michelle Payne as the only female jockey who won the Melbourne Cup, which she did in 2015 with Prince Of Penzance.

Another female trainer to win the Melbourne Cup is Guy Waterhouse, who won in 2013 with Fiorente and will be represented by Just Fine this year.

Lacson and Waterhouse will be joined in the race on Tuesday by Upi MacGilliviray (The Map), Deborah Rogerson (Sharp ‘N’ Smart), Annabelle Neesham (Fancy Man) and Natalie Young (Mostly Cloudy).

“I’m really excited about the women’s participation this year. Go girls,” Lacson said.

Lacson said racing could accurately be described as a chauvinistic sport when she joined it.

“I remember my first Melbourne Cup in 1986. I tried to get into the parade ring with Empire Rose, but they wouldn’t let me in,” said Lacson, who had to sneak in with the help of her then-husband Laurie.

“It was such a chauvinistic world then. I remember working in Sydney and there was a male racer there who was abusive to me.”

Lacson also said that she was the first female driver to compete in track racing in Hong Kong.

“This is very interesting. Now everything is equal, boys and girls have equal chances. It’s fantastic,” she said.

Lacson said her two children and five grandchildren will be in attendance at Flemington.

“It’s so exciting. I just sit and wonder. It’s a fairy tale,” she said.