Jockey Hollie Doyle tells of her torment from internet trolls

Despite only being 25 years old over the last five flat racing seasons Doyle has ridden 535 winners out of over 3,850 rides.

The Hereford jockey who was named The Sunday Times sportswoman of the year in 2020 says that online abuse comes directly as a result of the betting industry.

“All sport you can bet on it, social media is so easy to access and people can put their views and their opinions on it so easily and not get caught out for it," said Doyle.

“I don’t really know what you can do. I’m quite naive thinking what is going through people’s minds.

“People think it’s okay to write some of the thing you see.

“I just try and block everyone who has done it and I don’t really take much notice any more.

“When you’re riding winners you’re the best thing since sliced bread but as soon as you get beat on one or have had a bad day.

“I’m used to it now and every jockey get it no matter how successful or not you are.

“It’s a shame really but it’s something my generation especially have become quite used to now."

As a prominent figure in the flat racing world Doyle receives online abuse from punters.

Myracing conducted research on the most trolled jockeys on Twitter, taking a closer look at the total number of Twitter responses.

They found out of the 5,538 tweets which Doyle had received 3,276 were negative.Doyle blames the betting industry for the abuse.

Full research can be found HERE

With multiple rides each day during the flat racing season Doyle says that sometimes it is out of her hands whether a horse does well.

“Sometimes something has not gone to plan and it’s completely out of your control, you’re riding an animal," added Doyle.

“You just know before you’ve even opened up your social media that there’s going to be stuff on there.

“When I’ve done something wrong and see the abuse, I think fair enough almost.

“Sometimes you wonder if they are watching the same race that you are because there are some things you just can’t help and then you’re getting slatted for it which is just frustrating.

“You never truly know unless you’ve been a jockey I don’t think.

“Some people think they (horses) are just push button animals that you just point and steer, it’s not like that.

“It’s such an up and down sport. I could have seven rides in one day and one of them could win, the other six could be terrible.

“That’s just the sport and you just get used to it.”

Last season Doyle surpassed her own record for wins by a female jockey in a flat racing season recording 172 winners.

This season Doyle has already recorded 42 winners from 274 rides despite the season being in its early stages.

“It’s going really well I’m on 40 winners already for the year which is a really good start,” added Doyle.

“I’m just looking forward now to the turf season getting underway.

“We’ve only had one turf meeting so it hasn’t started properly yet but over the next month it will start winding up a bit.

“I’ve got plenty of horses which I’m looking forward to riding so I’m very lucky.

“I just want to ride winners and want to ride some good horses."