Keith Ross

Sharen Naidoo, left, and Chantelle Olwage bring training horse Schaara from his stable at the SA Jockey Academy in Summerveld. Picture: Keith Ross

Two young women have set out to prove they are just as tough as boys – “maybe even tougher” – by joining the latest intake of apprentices at the SA Jockey Academy in Summerveld.

They are Sharen Naidoo, 17, of Chatsworth, and Chantelle “Kleintjie” (Little One) Olwage, 20, who hails from Welkom in the Free State.

They have joined 14 boys to make up a class of 16 carefully selected newcomers who have just entered their five-year apprenticeships at the jockey academy in Durban’s Outer West.

Sharen and Olwage have already found the going tough at the academy, but are determined to show they can hold their own in a sport almost entirely dominated by men and boys.

They believe they have all the passion needed to succeed.

“It’s all in the mind,” they told the Daily News. “There is nothing a boy can do that we can’t, if we train hard enough.”

“And those boys aren’t so tough, really,” said Sharen. “You should hear some of them crying when they get their vitamin B injections.”

The injections are part of the regular medication routine of the academy, which places great emphasis on health and fitness of all apprentices.

“I don’t like needles,” said Sharen, “but we don’t make a big fuss about it – not like some of those boys.”

She did her schooling at Newhaven School in Chats-worth, where she did Grade 11 last year. She will now complete her schooling at the academy.

“A lot of people supported me to follow my passion for riding – especially my father, Marvin Naidoo, and my sister, Karen. I have also had a lot of help from trainer Garth Puller, who gave me some riding lessons in the past year.”

Her joy at being admitted to the academy was shared by Olwage, who said she had clung to her dream of being a jockey in spite of being considerably older than the average apprentice, most of whom start training at 15.

“After school I worked in a clothing shop to make some money first, before coming here. I also have people at home supporting me, especially my mother, Davida de Beer, and my stepfather, Zac,” she said.

Olwage said she had wanted to be a jockey for many years. She had been taken by a friend to horse races for the first time in Johannesburg five years ago.

“It gave me goosebumps.

“I love speed. Even when I ride a bike I have to go faster than anybody else. I am afraid of nothing,” Olwage said.

She was delighted to be at the academy at last. “It is like a family here. The people here have made me feel at home.”

Olwage said nothing would entice her away from her dream to become a champion jockey.

“This is just about me and my horse. It is my dream and I am not going to let go, not for anything.”

Olwage is tiny. She is 1.35m tall and weighs 43.44kg. But she is as tough as steel and has the passion to make a success of the riding profession, says the academy’s marketing manager, Charles Grey, who approved her application for an apprenticeship.

“We get quite a few young girls who want to be jockeys, but we choose only one or two who have something special,” he said.

Grey said many girls applied to the academy simply because they loved horses.

“It is important to love horses – all animals – but training as a jockey is not fun, not a hobby.

“A girl who wants to make a success of this profession has to be strong, fit and brave. And she mustn’t be scared of getting her hands dirty. This is a dirty job and there is no glamour in it, especially in the first year.”

Grey said horse racing was the only sport he knew of where women competed against men on an equal footing.

“There are no girls’ races or teams. It actually seems a little unfair. The girls are in there with the boys and nobody is going to do them any favours.”