THE name Patti Cooksey will not be very familiar to Irish racefans.

She was a speaker at some of the functions in the build up to tonight’s Kentucky Derby. She was also the second female jockey to ride in the great American classic.

Some of her comments were noteworthy this week in the light of events last weekend at Punchesown.

We came to the end of an era in Irish jump racing, when in the 18 hours from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, both Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh announced they were hanging up their saddles from riding on the track.

In the US, Cooksey rode 2,137 winners from 18,266 mounts, and was also the first lady rider in the Preakness Stakes.

“The first thing I encountered in Kentucky was “tradition,” she said this week. She rode as PJ Cooksey in the racecard and would turn up for rides to be greeted with “Oh, my God you’re a girl.”

She also acknowledged, “it’s a male dominated sport. It’s tough and you’ve got to be tough.”

While some now are advocating that the term ‘lady’ rider/jockey is in some way unneccessary, it is still important to highlight that, in one of the few sports where men and women compete alongside each other and are in competition for opportunities, that you can be female and be a good rider.

Jockeys are among the least recognisable of sportsmen, hidden behind a helmet and colours. Often the horse is the hero. It’s good to stand out, and that’s what Nina and Katie did, both on the horses and off them.

The majority of jockeys are male, the majority of trainers and owners are male and, just as importantly, most punters are male. They too must have confidence in the jockey on board, that when coming to the last obstacle the jockey will be fully committed, not afraid to ask for the decisive long stride.

Female riders are no longer the butt of jokes nor thought of as a hinderance on a fancied horse. But young girls coming into the sport need women to emulate, need role models, especially those from non-racing familes, so hailing a female rider as such does nothing wrong.

It was heartening, and a huge step forward, to hear a group of guys in the stand at Fairyhouse last year roar “come on Rachael” when Abolitionist hit the front into the straight in the Irish Grand National. It was not always so. No more “Oh no, it’s a girl.”

The achievements of Nina and Katie and any extra attention that they deservedly got, paved the way for Rachael, Lisa, Bryony, Lucy, Lizzy, Gina and others in Britain. There’s nothing patronising about it.

Rachael Blackmore proved it again at Punchestown, giving no quarter in big handicaps and having support from the top trainers.

We also heard Lisa O’Neill in Monday’s RTÉ Nationwide say “Respect is such a big thing in racing.” Earning that respect has taken some time but Nina and Katie were the frontrunners in gaining it. They showed that you could be one of the lads, as good as the lads but still very much ‘ladies’ in all the best sense of the word.

Words from trainer Peter Easterby came to mind watching and listening to all the deserved tributes last week. He spoke after the deaths of his two greats, Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon.

“They had a great life and we had a great life because of them.”

We can bend the words slightly to fit the present.

Nina and Katie had great careers, we had a great time watching them, and they leave a sport where many more ‘girls’ will have great careers, simply because of them.