Horse Racing 'Glass Ceiling' Breakers... Jockey Kim Hye-seon Rewriting Korean Horse Racing History, What Is Her Secret?

March 8th was ‘International Women’s Day.’ This day originated from an event on March 8, 1908, when female workers in the United States demanded improved working conditions and suffrage rights.

More than 100 years later, although glass ceilings still exist in many parts of society, women’s participation and achievements in the workforce are gradually expanding.

▲ Female Jockeys Challenging the ‘Forbidden Zone’ Domestically and Abroad

Kim Hye-seon is crossing the finish line in the 2017 Busan Korean Oaks main race.

Horse racing is one of the fields where it is particularly difficult for women to advance. Even in the West, where horse racing originated, deep-rooted prejudice and discrimination against women made it hard for female jockeys or trainers to emerge.

Moreover, since male and female jockeys compete under the same conditions, men, who generally have greater physical strength and stamina, tend to have an advantage.

However, there have been female jockeys who have shown outstanding performances.

In the United States, pioneering women who broke the ‘forbidden zone’ barrier include Diane Crump, the first female jockey to compete in the Kentucky Derby in 1970, and Julie Krone, the first female jockey to win the Triple Crown series in 1993.

In 2015, Australia’s Michelle Payne became the first female winner in the 155-year history of the Melbourne Cup, one of the world’s most prestigious horse racing events. Payne’s life-changing story was also released as the movie ‘Ride Like a Girl’ in South Korea in 2020.

In Korea, although Lee Ok-rye is known as the first female jockey who obtained her license in March 1975, she retired due to injury after just six months, and the full-fledged entry of female jockeys only began in the 2000s.

Jockeys Lee Geum-ju and Lee Shin-young, who debuted in 2001 and are considered the first Korean female jockeys, opened the era of women in horse racing by showing performances comparable to men in an environment where women were almost non-existent.

After retiring, Lee Geum-ju became a university professor, and Lee Shin-young has continued her new challenge as the first female trainer since 2011.

▲ Kim Hye-seon, the ‘Queen of Horse Racing,’ Rewriting 100 Years of Korean Horse Racing History

Jockey Kim Hye-seon and Korean Oaks winning horse Jeju Sky.

Thanks to the trailblazing ‘eldest sisters,’ about 10 female jockeys are currently active at Seoul, Busan-Gyeongnam, and Jeju racecourses 20 years later.

Among them is a female jockey rewriting the history of Korean horse racing: Kim Hye-seon, who is active at LetsRun Park Busan-Gyeongnam.

Debuting in 2009, Kim Hye-seon has surpassed renowned competitors and broken records with her exceptional competitiveness and diligence.

She carries the title of ‘first female jockey to declare free agent status’ in 2013, ‘first female to win a graded race’ in 2017, reached 300 wins in 2021, and swept three international exchange races in a single day in 2022. Wherever she goes, she is known as the ‘first female’ in many achievements.

She is also nicknamed the ‘female president of horse racing’ and the ‘queen of horse racing.’ Thanks to her efforts, prejudices against female jockeys are also being broken down.

Notably, in 2017, she won the Korean Oaks graded race, becoming the first woman in Korea to achieve this honor.

In that race, she hit high odds payouts of 56-to-1 for win bets, 475-to-1 for exacta bets, and 17,274-to-1 for trifecta bets, showing how difficult the victory was.

Kim Hye-seon said, “Rather than being highlighted as a woman, I want to be called simply a jockey and do my best to receive equal opportunities without discrimination.”

▲ The ‘Princess Pyeonggang and Fool Ondal’ Story in the Horse Racing World

Kim Hye-seon is part of the first jockey couple in Busan horse racing. In 2019, she married Park Jae-i, a jockey six years her junior and eight years younger.

Park Jae-i first saw Kim Hye-seon when she traveled to Busan to participate in the 2017 Korean Oaks graded race and fell in love at first sight. Thanks to his consistent support, they eventually got married.

After becoming a ‘married woman,’ Kim Hye-seon has continued her steady performance. As of the third week of March, her results over the past year rank her 7th in wins (40 wins) and 7th in winning percentage (11.4%) among Busan-Gyeongnam jockeys.

Looking only at this year’s races, her winning percentage is an impressive 16.1% (3rd in Busan-Gyeongnam), showing that her skills are not fading but thriving. This is the highest performance among female jockeys in Korea and outstanding even compared to many male jockeys.

Thanks to Kim’s support, her husband Park Jae-i’s growth has been even more remarkable. His winning percentage, which was 4.8% at the time of their marriage in 2019, has broken personal records every year and rose to 15.9% in 2022.

In the past year alone, he has won 58 races, ranking 4th in wins, three places ahead of his wife. It is said that Kim Hye-seon’s special training after marriage has significantly improved her husband’s skills. This is why people liken them to ‘Princess Pyeonggang and Fool Ondal.’

▲ “A Mother’s Strength Is Great” … Returning to Racing Just 7 Months After Childbirth

The couple already has a four-year-old son. Kim Hye-seon gave birth in 2020, the year after their marriage, and returned to the racetrack just seven months later.

Contrary to expectations that the early return would affect her performance, she surprised everyone with outstanding results.

Kim said, “I wanted to ride horses as soon as possible, so I hurriedly got back in shape and returned, but my condition was unstable, and I endured it firmly while riding. Strangely, my results were good, and I wondered where that strength came from. I think that’s the power of being a mother,” explaining the situation at the time.

Could this be a gift for a working mom who struggles more than anyone else? Their son, “Chani,” is very gentle and lovely, and even when apart, he doesn’t fuss or seek his mother but rather takes care of her. His SNS is filled with cute photos of him, showing his mother’s deep love.

She said she might worry if her son grows up to become a jockey like his mother and father. Since jockeys are always with live racehorses, they inevitably face injuries such as falls or being kicked.

Because of these risks, she honestly hopes he chooses a different path, but of course, the most important thing is her son’s own will.

▲ Enduring Injuries to Do Better … “I Think I’m Tough Myself”

Kim Hye-seon also faced a major crisis due to injury. Shortly after moving from Seoul to Busan, she injured her ankle but kept riding for 1 to 2 weeks despite the pain because of her desire to perform well.

When she finally underwent a detailed examination, it was found that her ligament was completely torn, and due to overexertion, the cartilage damage had worsened, forcing her to rest for more than seven months for treatment.

This episode reveals her strong perseverance in overcoming physical limitations as a woman and growing into a jockey who stands shoulder to shoulder with men. Kim Hye-seon evaluated herself, saying, “I think I’m tough myself.”

When asked about her secret to managing stamina, the ‘supermom’ Kim said, “In the past, I did intense exercises like Pilates and gym workouts, but nowadays, balancing childcare is so hard that I just take a lot of health supplements and do healing exercises like yoga or pole dance.”

▲ Kim Hye-seon, Inspiring Juniors by Communicating with the World, Her Challenge Is ‘ING’

Kim Hye-seon, who has been rapidly advancing this year, suddenly disappeared from the racetrack after her last race in early February. She said she paused her activities for about a month to receive trainer education in preparation for her second act as a trainer.

She also wanted to create time to be with her son during this important period. Kim Hye-seon, who constantly challenges herself for the future, said above all she wants to be a “proud and strong mother” to her son.

The source of her incredible strength from her small stature of 154 cm seems to be ‘maternal love.’

Although she must be extremely busy with childcare and work, she actively communicates with fans through SNS and YouTube in her spare time. Since starting childcare, she hasn’t been able to upload videos on YouTube frequently due to the time required, but she regularly updates her status on SNS, which is popular among younger generations. Aspiring jockey juniors also contact her through SNS.

Calling herself a ‘show-off,’ Kim Hye-seon said her various activities “influence fans and juniors and can also affect the image of horse racing, so I try to be careful in my actions and be a role model.”

She added, “I am always grateful because I can gain a lot of strength thanks to the support around me,” expressing her gratitude to her fans.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.