Female starter breaking new ground at Ipswich Turf Club

By Andrew Smith

Danielle Jones is proving that age and gender is no barrier to taking on a job with huge responsibility.

The 22-year-old has recently become the first ever female starter at Ipswich Turf Club, believed to be currently the only woman doing the job in Queensland.

So far she’s started almost 20 races, and will add to that tally in Friday's eight-race card at Bundamba.

The Beaudesert local had spent plenty of time behind the barriers but jumped at the chance to be in front of them when given the opportunity by Ipswich track manager Sean Tou.

“At my home track in Beaudesert, they wanted me to start work on the barriers and from there I’ve moved to all different tracks around South East Queensland,” Jones said.

“I’ve been working out on the barriers for a few years now and Sean wanted to include all different types of people and genders into the role like starting.

“He thought I would be up to the standard of being able to start a few races, and he offered me the opportunity and I decided I’d take it to broaden my horizons and have a few options.

“I’m really enjoying it so far.”

Jones still rides trackwork, leads horses and assists jockeys at several tracks around SEQ including the Gold Coast, Dalby, Esk, Beaudesert, Kilcoy, Warwick, and Gatton – experience that she says benefits her greatly in the new role.

It has also helped her grow in confidence to give some of the jockeys, who have several more years of experience in the industry than her, a push when needed.

“Being able to read the horses and sort of know what’s going on with them and what they’re thinking helps a lot, because you’ve got to be on the ball when they’re starting and get them out safely when they’re in a line,” Jones said.

“So if you can see one’s about to play up you can sort of see what’s going to happen.

“You’ve got to learn to be a bit more authoritative with the jockeys and telling them what they need to be doing and where they need to be.

“It’s a lot of watching and learning to make sure that you get the idea of what’s going on and try and copy what they do out the front and do your best to do what they do and keep everyone safe and get them out.”

Jones says the teamwork and camaraderie amongst her workmates at the starting gates has also helped ease the nerves and broaden her knowledge at a race meet.

“At the start it’s a little bit intimidating even being a barrier attendant but once you get to know how everything works it’s pretty easy,” she said.

“Everyone is really easy to get along with and everyone looks after everyone and makes sure we’re all ok and we’re all safe.

“It’s just being able to trust your peers and trust your workmates and knowing that they have your back and the jockey is working well with you as well and they do their best to do what they can to help.

“It’s not really daunting, it’s like a special opportunity – I really appreciate and am thankful I’ve got the opportunity.”

Ipswich Turf Club CEO Tim Dunn said there were no hesitations in green lighting Jones to take on the starting duties, having earned her stripes at the Bundamba track.

“It’s double ticks for me because it’s a young person coming through the ranks in that capacity but also a female,” Dunn said.

“It’s really exciting to be able to give someone that opportunity because they don’t come along very often.

“You think of how many starting people there are across Australia, and there’s not many, so for her to get that opportunity here, it’s really exciting for us and I’m really proud of her and proud of the team as well.”

“I’ll go out on a limb and say there would not be very many others (female starters).

“I think she is one of a very few select group and even her age - I don’t think there would be many starters under the age of 30, let alone under the age of 25 and female at that.

“It’s just unbelievable.”

The turf club boss can attest to Jones' cool nature at the front of the field.

“She’s got to take that control but she’s really calm and collected about her approach as well which is great,” Dunn said.

“There’s a lot of situations where you can panic and everyone’s seen that horses can be such unpredictable animals.

“She just brings that cool, calm, collected aspect to the racetrack and it’s really good for the team, they feel so supported as well cause she’s in a really strong position.

“Hopefully she’s got a long career in an official administration capacity and has got a great grounding here.”

For now, Jones will focus on building her experience in the starter’s role, something she hopes can lead to further opportunities down the track.

She’s also keen to see more women join the starting ranks across Queensland.

“I think maybe in the future I can go and start trials elsewhere and possibly go out to bush tracks and hopefully start a few more out there and get more experience until I’m comfortable and capable,” Jones said.

“There’s females in all stages of the industry like strappers, trackwork riders, jockeys, starters.

“Us girls can do this as well as any bloke can – just because it’s a male-dominated industry doesn’t mean we can’t do it, we’re obviously more than capable."