“Go home and wash dishes! Have babies!” was the greeting Denise Boudrot got from the railbirds (track spectators) when she first began racing Thoroughbreds in 1972.
 
In 1972, Boudrot rode in her first horse race, one of thousands she would ride over the next thirteen years. She was a pioneer for female jockeys, at a time when there were very few of them at the track. Horse trainers were reluctant to employ a female rider. They weren’t as strong as the men, for one thing, in such a dangerous sport as horse racing. They were the weaker sex. For another, they were unbecoming covered in mud and soaking wet.
 
All that changed with Women’s Lib. Boudrot, along with the other popular female riders of the 1970s proved that they, too, could get to the track at 5 a.m. and put in long, grueling, 18-hour days after riding nine mounts the previous day. And win!

“I don’t ride to beat the boys,” Boudrot said at the time. ” I ride to win.”

And win she did, over a thousand races. She even won two match races against a popular male jockey of her time, Mike Lapensee.
 
To throngs of admirers from the stands, Denise’s winners paid off handsome purses. She became the first female jockey to win a title at a major Thoroughbred track.
 
No longer in the world of purses, payoffs, and winner’s circles, Denise is hamming it up with her trick horse Cleve Kadiddlehopper, trained by well-known performer/trainer/clinician Carole Fletcher, who appropriately wrote a comedy skit for Denise titled, “The Reluctant Racehorse,” something Denise was very familiar with.

On July 22, Boudrot returned “home” to Suffolk Downs racetrack in Boston, Mass., and performed with her trick horse to the delight of the racing crowds.
 
If you are interested in more information about performances or Boudrot, please contact Carole Fletcher at trickhorse@worldnet.att.net; 1-877-HORSE OK