Her Horseracing Dreams by Mary-Ann Sandercock

Her Horseracing Dreams by Mary-Ann Sandercock

A coming-of-age story, where the love of horses, hard work, determination and talent overcome low self-esteem and no family background in horseracing.

Ellie Simpson was mad about horses and ponies. She had been since she was a small child, but her mum's income couldn't stretch to riding lessons and she resigned herself to watching horseracing on the telly; the magnificent thoroughbreds and their jockeys becoming her equine and human heroes.

It felt like her horsey prayers had been answered when Ellie's mum got a job as a cleaner for a family that owned horses and the daughters took Ellie under their wing, giving her riding lessons. When the family moved away, Ellie's riding ground to a halt, but she decided that when she left school, she would follow her dream and work with racehorses.

Ellie's story follows her horseracing rollercoaster journey, from her first day of working for leading Lambourn flat trainer Max Jones, to becoming a valued and respected member of the Valley Stables team and being granted her apprentice jockey licence.

There are bumps in the road and she experiences darker incidents and tragedy, that happen not just in horseracing, but in life. Ellie's racing career progresses at a whirlwind pace of highs and lows - where the highs reach beyond her wildest dreams.