The joy of horse racing, at least in theory, is that there is nothing that men can do that women can’t. Whether you’re talking about attempting to ride horses or you’re looking specifically at the world of training, women are just as capable as their male counterparts.
One of the women who worked hard at breaking the glass ceiling and making way for others to follow was Venetia Williams, who started life as a jockey before turning her hand to training, meaning that there isn’t much in the industry that she hasn’t done at one point or another, becoming a role model for many.
About
Venetia Williams was born at Scorrier House in Cornwall on the tenth of May 1960. It didn’t take long before she was in the saddle, gaining experience as an amateur jockey in the National Hunt circuit. She took part in the Grand National in 1988, joining the roster of countless other jockeys that fell at Bechers Brook. That was not a major incident in and of itself, but when she suffered another fall when riding in a race at Worcester Racecourse two weeks later, she broke her neck. This forced her to retire from her career in the saddle, looking for another path in the industry.
The most obvious thing to do was to become a trainer, working for both Martin Pipe and John Edwards in order to gain some experience in the field. In 1995, she decided to take up a licence in order to be able to train horses on her own, which proved to be a hugely impressive decision. By the end of 2024, her total earnings for wins over jumps as well as in National Hunt flat races stood at more than £5 million. She worked hard to ensure that she was taken seriously, quickly being seen as one of the best in the business when it came to training horses, have also worked in both Australia and the United States of America.
Major Successes
Whilst Venetia Williams hasn’t exactly enjoyed the same level of success as a trainer such as Willie Mullins, it is perhaps unfair to compare her to one of the best trainers ever to work with horses. She has always been considered to be a shrewd judge of the horses that she works with, which has allowed her to win any number of events, both big and small. She slowly increased the number of wins that her horses enjoyed year on year, so that by the 2002-2003 season she saw winners in 78 different races. That gives you a sense of how many events she’s been in the Winners’ Enclosure for.
It goes without saying that the biggest races will always be the ones that sit at the top of her CV, which is why many will look at her success in the Grand National in 2009 as the crowning moment of her career. For Williams, though, wins in events such as the Hennessy Gold Cup and the King George VI Chase are just as impressive. Still, 2009 will go down as being one of the best years ever for Williams, who won both the Freddie Williams Festival Place and the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival, training the first two home in the former race, before the National win.
Here is a look at just some of the races that Venetia Williams won as a trainer at least once:
- Grand National
- King George VI Chase
- Hennessy Gold Cup
- Pertemps Final
- Freddie Williams Festival Plate
- Betfair Chase
- Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase
- Ascot Chase
- Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
Horses Trained
History was made in 2009 when Mon Mome won the Grand National after being 100/1 odds 🐎🏆
Jockey Liam Treadwell, who died five years ago, described the feeling as ‘unbelievable’https://t.co/kriETNAudV pic.twitter.com/ToZQkRK0o6
— Mirror Sport (@MirrorSport) April 5, 2025
When you have a career as long and as successful as Venetia Williams has managed, it’s fair to say that there are any number of decent horses that you’ve worked with at one point or another. In 2023 and 2024, for example, she trained Royale Pagaille to back-to-back wins in the Betfair Chase, whilst Golden Goal had won the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase more than 20 years earlier. If you get to the point that you’ve earned more than £5 million in winnings, that is thanks to the excellent level of horse that you’ve been able to work with, which includes the winners of the big races.
Mon Môme
If there is one horse that you’re likely to be associated with forever, it certainly doesn’t hurt if that is because you trained it to win the ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’. That is exactly what Venetia Williams did, taking the French-born bay gelding to Aintree in 2009 and watching on as Liam Treadwell took him all the way to the end and won the race. It was an impressive enough feat, but when you consider the fact that the horse had a Starting Price of 100/1, it’s fair to say that even Williams was shocked by the result. It was the longest-priced winner since Foinavon 42 years before.
Teeton Mill
It goes without saying that the best-known races in the world of National Hunt are the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. They aren’t the only races that those involved in jump racing want to win, however, and Teeton Mill is proof that a horse can still hold a place in a trainer’s heart by winning other races. The Badger Beer Chase win in 1998 was good, but the fact that the grey gelding followed it up by winning the Hennessy Gold Cup and the King George VI Chase in the same year cemented things. He also won the Ascot Chase a year later to really tie up his place in Williams’ heart.
L’Homme Presse
The phrase ‘class is permanent’ is one that gets bandied about quite regularly, but L’Homme Presse’s success under Venetia Williams might well prove the case for the trainer. The French-born bay gelding began training with her in the January of 2021, winning a race for novice hurdlers at Chepstow by 28 lengths. That was the proof needed for Williams that she had a class act on her hands, who went on to win the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase before heading to the Cheltenham Festival in order to win the Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. If not for unseating his rider, he might also have added the King George VI Chase to his list of successes.
