Sporting Greats - Jenny Pitman

Jenny Pitman's National success will always be viewed as her most notable, but it is by no means her only success. She has accumulated several victories including the prestigious, 'Cheltenham Gold Cup' which she has also taken twice beginning with 'Burrough Hill Lad' in 1984 and ending with 'Garrison Savannah' in 1991.

Jenny's largest challenge however lay ahead and it had nothing to do with with horses or training.
In 1997, Jenny was diagnosed with cancerous cells in her thyroid. Although still not completely in the clear, radiotherapy and several operations have aided a recovery. It is perhaps this recovery that caused Jenny to announce her retirement on 16 March 1999 at the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. She was stepping down from the horse training business at the end of the season and handing the reins over to her son Mark.
At 52 years of age and after 24 years as a trainer, Jenny's retirement will be spent with husband David Stait, a man she met in 1979 and married in 1997.

Jenny has certainly earned my respect and admiration for taking on and winning in a male dominated sport! Perhaps my most favourite memory of her horse training days was the time she met British jockey John Francome in the unsaddling enclosure and greeted him with a right hook! John gave a poor ride on one of her horses and so Jenny declared that he would never ride the horse again! Let us hope that her strong disposition will allow her to enjoy a healthy and happy retirement, we women will miss you!!

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