Chantal Sutherland (born February 23, 1976, in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...
,
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Win ...
) is a Canadian
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
,
television personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
and
jockey in North American
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
horse racing. She is referred to as the
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman i ...
of
horse racing. She is known for her appearances on the
reality tv
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
show,
Jockeys
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individua ...
on
Animal Planet
Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily d ...
, as well as being the poster girl for the
Del Mar racetrack
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is a event venue in Del Mar, California. The annual San Diego County Fair is held here, which was called the Del Mar Fair from 1984 to 2001. In 1936, the Del Mar Racetrack was built by the Thoroughbred Club with foundin ...
. During an interview on
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...
in the lead-up to the
Dubai World Cup
The Dubai World Cup (Arabic: كأس دبي العالمي) is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 and contested at the Meydan Racecourse (Arabic: ميدان) which in Arabic suggests a place wher ...
race, she said that her primary vocation was jockey.
Background
Sutherland grew up in the
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
area where her father Hugh owned a horse farm and trained
standardbred
The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trac ...
s. As a young girl, she played competitive
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...
and was invited to try out for Canada's
junior World Cup
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
team. She rode horses in
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
*Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
events but after graduating from
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staf ...
with a degree in communications and
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, she decided to explore the opportunity to ride Thoroughbreds in
flat racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
.
Career
Beginning in the year 2000, the Del Mar Racetrack's
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club marketing team went through a major shift in their marketing direction. They realized they had to attract a more youthful audience as well as a female audience. They focused Del Mar as a fashionable destination, using social media and other avenues to market the racetrack. They hired jockey and model Chantal Sutherland to be the new face of the Del Mar racetrack. Their strategy paid off, as over 13 years later Del Mar has changed their demographics and audience attendance.
On October 9, 2000, at
Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track ...
in Toronto, Sutherland won her first career race. The following year, she was voted the
Sovereign Award {{refimprove, date=October 2021
The Sovereign Award is given annually since 1975 by the Jockey Club of Canada to the outstanding horses and people in Canadian Thoroughbred racing.
The most prestigious award for horses is Sovereign Horse of the ...
as Canada's top apprentice jockey, repeating in 2002 when she was one of Canada's highest-paid female athletes, earning $5.7 million in purses in eight months. She finished third in the Woodbine standings that year with 124 victories with earnings of $5,751,417. She finished 31st in the national earnings title in that same year as she earned $5,968,460 with victories of 136 and had 754 mounts. She remained in Canada until the end of 2004. In the winter of 2004, she rode the winter months in the
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...
Circuit riding at
Laurel Park Racecourse
Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades un ...
.
She participated in the second annual Colombian Emeralds International Jockey Challenge on New Year's Day 2005 in
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate ...
, guided Maeve ($11.80) to victory in the first race, leading a 'Woodbine' sweep, as
Jono Jones
Jonathon C. "Jono" Jones (born April 30, 1976 in Cascade, Trinidad and Tobago) is a Barbadian-born Canadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing who has won each of the Canadian Triple Crown races.
The son of the renowned Barbadian jockey/traine ...
(Band Dancer) and
Patrick Husbands
Patrick Husbands (born May 22, 1973) is a Barbadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. The son of a jockey, he began riding as a young boy, turning professional in his home country where he rode successfully until emigrating to Toronto, Onta ...
(Blazing Colours) finished second and third, respectively. In 2005, she went to race in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
and
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, where jockeys
Ángel Cordero Jr.,
Shane Sellers
Shane Jude Sellers (born September 24, 1966 in Erath, Louisiana) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs.
Sellers won several nationa ...
and
Edgar Prado
Edgar S. Prado (Lima, June 12, 1967) is a Peruvian-born American jockey, a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey in thoroughbred horse racing.
His big break came in 1997 when he won 536 races, making him the fourth rider in history to win 500 races ...
helped her hone her skills. She rode the winter meet at
Aqueduct in 2007. Her highlight in New York was a victory in the
Tom Fool Handicap with Smokume at
Belmont Park
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905.
It is operated by the non-profit New York Raci ...
. During her time in New York, she rode for Hall of Fame trainer
H. Allen Jerkens
Harry Allen Jerkens (April 21, 1929 – March 18, 2015) was an American thoroughbred race horse Hall of Fame trainer.
Jerkens' father owned a riding academy on Long Island that led to his interest in horse racing, and in the spring of 195 ...
and trainer
Todd Pletcher
Todd Pletcher (born June 26, 1967 in Dallas, Texas) is an American thoroughbred horse trainer. He won the Eclipse Award seven times as Trainer of the Year, four of these in consecutive years. His horses Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming ( ...
. In 2006, she partnered
Gigawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
to win the Grade 3
Miami Mile Handicap.
Sutherland quickly became a top rider in Canada, but she realized that riding in Canada was never going to land her in the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...
or the
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Graded stakes race, Grade I Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was ...
races. She then relocated to
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...
.
In 2007, she returned to Canada to ride at Woodbine after a 2-year stint in the New York and Florida circuit. She finished seventh in the Woodbine standings with 69 victories out of 572 mounts with earnings of $3,246,387. She finished 77th in the national earnings title that same year with 79 victories out of 668 mounts with earnings of $3,480,229.
From December 2007 to April 2008, Sutherland competed at
Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...
in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. Retired
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey
Gary Stevens said: "She has become the queen of the longshots. She has won several photos against top jockeys, which shows she is a strong finisher."
Allen Gutterman, Santa Anita racetrack's head of marketing, said Sutherland "could become the best female jockey since
Julie Krone."
Sutherland returned to Toronto for the 2008 racing season, and on August 9 she rode five winners on a single race card. In the summer of 2008, she rode future Kentucky Derby winner
Mine That Bird
Mine That Bird (foaled May 10, 2006) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2009 Kentucky Derby at 50-1 odds and came second in the Preakness Stakes and third in the Belmont Stakes. He had earnings of $2,228,637 and was induc ...
to stakes wins in the
Silver Deputy,
Swynford
Swynford (January 1907 – 18 May 1928) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred at the 16th Lord Derby's stud in Lincolnshire, England he was sired by John O'Gaunt, a son of Isinglass, winner of the British Triple Crown in 1893. His dam was ...
and
Grey Stakes at Woodbine and finished 12th aboard Mine That Bird in the 2008
Breeders' Cup Juvenile
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually in late October or early November at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup ...
at Santa Anita. She also rode Van Lear Rose in that year
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies is a -mile thoroughbred horse race on dirt (although the distance has varied, depending on the configuration of the host track) for two-year-old fillies run annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the Uni ...
to finish sixth. She rode the 2008
Oak Tree
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...
meeting as she left Canada in October 2008 to ride in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. She spent a total of 6 months in California as she rode also the 2008
Hollywood Park fall meeting and the 2009 Santa Anita meeting.
In 2008, she finished seventh in the Woodbine standings with earnings of $4,947,630 and had 89 victories out of 590 mounts. She finished 38th in the national earnings title with earnings of $5,937,965 and with victories of 116 out of 832 mounts.
She got publicity when she was one of the jockeys featured on the
reality tv
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
show
Jockeys
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individua ...
on
Animal Planet
Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily d ...
. It lasted for two seasons.
Sutherland had an on-again-off-again relationship with Hall of Fame jockey
Mike E. Smith
Michael Earl Smith (born August 10, 1965) is an American jockey who has been one of the leading riders in U.S. Thoroughbred racing since the early 1990s, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2003, and has won the m ...
for six years, until 2010. Although engaged at one point, they broke the engagement in June 2010, two weeks before they raced each other at the
Queen's Plate
The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of ...
in Woodbine. In August 2011, the two were paired in a match race nicknamed the "Battle of the Exes".
Sutherland finished second in the 2009 Woodbine jockey standings with earnings of $7,588,868 with victories of 139 and had 981 mounts. She finished in 2009 22nd in the national earnings title as she earned $7,451,964 with victories of 159 and had 1,131 mounts. She was a finalist for the
2009 Sovereign Awards for
Outstanding Jockey of the year.
Sutherland rode the 2010 Woodbine meet in Canada, and enjoyed a degree of success in California, winning both the Grade 2
Santa Ynez Stakes
The Santa Ynez Stakes is a Grade II American thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies over a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt track held annually in early January at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, USA. The event cur ...
and the Grade 2
El Encino Stakes
The El Encino Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run between 1954 and 2011 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Open to four-year-old fillies, it was raced over a distance of miles (8.5 furlongs) on the synthetic Cushion Trac ...
. It was her best year on earnings wise and peak position wise which placed her 13th on the National Earnings List with $8,778,038 on earnings with 152 wins.

Since 2011, she now rides daily on the Southern California Circuit. In March 2011 Sutherland rode
Game On Dude in the
Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up and was once considered the most important race for old ...
and won by a nose in a victory that was as controversial as it was historic. It included a 12-minute stewards' inquiry due to heavy contact between her horse and two others at the top of the stretch. Ultimately the results were upheld by a 2–1 vote, making her the first woman jockey to win ''the Hundred Grander''. In the
Breeders' Cup Classic
The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the s ...
on November 5, 2011, she again led in the stretch with Game On Dude, as she sought to become the first women jockey to win the Classic. However, she was passed by
Drosselmeyer, ridden by Smith, near the wire and finished 2nd to her ex-boyfriend.
On March 31, 2012, again riding Game On Dude, she made history as the first woman jockey to ride in the world's richest horse race, the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Running third at one point in the race, her mount faded towards the end, and finished 12th of 13 runners.
Sutherland married businessman Dan Kruse in May 2012, nine months after meeting him on a blind date. They divorced in 2016.
In July 2012, once again on board Game On Dude, Sutherland became the first woman jockey to win the
Hollywood Gold Cup
The Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older over a distance of miles on the dirt held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California in May. The race currently offers a purse of $400,000. ...
.
On Sunday October 21, 2012 at Woodbine Race Course she announced her retirement from the sport of horse racing as a jockey. This would be short-lived, as she returned to racing in July, 2013 at
Hollywood Park Racetrack
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to t ...
.
On May 6, 2017, aboard Giro Candito in the third race at Santa Anita, Sutherland joined
Emma-Jayne Wilson and
Francine Villeneuve as the only Canadian-born women jockeys to reach the 1,000 wins plateau.
After The Wire
Chantal Sutherland's
good looks have garnered much publicity. She has been featured in ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...
'' and had a four-page spread in ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' magazine. She appeared in a 2004 TV commercial for Esquire watches. As well, she was chosen one of ''
People
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of proper ...
'' magazine's "
100 Most Beautiful People." In August 2008 it was announced that the
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
-based
cosmetics
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protec ...
firm Mistura Inc. had signed Chantal Sutherland as the new face for their Mistura Beauty product line. She holds a pilot's license and has lent her time and efforts to several marketing and community endeavors at various racetracks throughout North America.
Sutherland appeared in five episodes of the television series ''
Luck
Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...
'', which began airing in North America on
HBO in February 2012, portraying the character Lizzy.
IMDb
/ref>
Year-end charts
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Chantal
1976 births
Living people
York University alumni
Canadian female jockeys
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
American female jockeys
Participants in American reality television series
Canadian emigrants to the United States
21st-century American women