Carrie Ford: Sorry Ginger, this really could be the mother of all Nationals

Strange thing, but hard as you try, midway through your conversation with the Grand National jockey Carrie Ford you find yourself metamorphosing into a writer on one of those lowbrow women's magazines. As you discuss the perils of the Aintree marathon, you can almost see the headline now, adjacent to How surgery took three stone off EastEnders star; Revealed: the woman whose racing ambition could leave her baby without a mother.

Strange thing, but hard as you try, midway through your conversation with the Grand National jockey Carrie Ford you find yourself metamorphosing into a writer on one of those lowbrow women's magazines. As you discuss the perils of the Aintree marathon, you can almost see the headline now, adjacent to How surgery took three stone off EastEnders star; Revealed: the woman whose racing ambition could leave her baby without a mother.

In this still prejudiced world, all manner of fathers - motor-racing drivers, motorbike racers, rugby players, union and league, and, notably, jockeys - are indulged when they imperil their careers, their health, and just maybe their lives. But let a female, or worse a mother, stray into the same arena and she is regarded as the embodiment of irresponsibility, a sporting scarlet woman.

That notion never truly occurred to Ford until she triumphed on her mount for this year's National, Forest Gunner (trained by her husband, Richard) in last year's Liverpool Foxhunters' Chase at Aintree over 2m 6f of those intimidating Grand National fences. "Had I fallen at the first in the Foxhunters, the press could have leapt on it and I could have been 'the worst mother from hell', riding, as I was, 10-and-a-half weeks after giving birth to Hannah," she concedes. "It sounds very morbid, but, yes, I have considered what happens if things do go [she pauses and chooses her words carefully] very wrong in the National. I shall go into the race with the thought that I have got Richard and Hannah's grandparents and she is going to be looked after."

Ford adds: "My fellow's run round there twice, and got round twice, and won twice, and while that's no guarantee he'll do it a third time, on form it's a calculated risk that we are prepared to take."

The male component of Team Ford - and you gain the impression that a real harmony exists - growls his agreement. "Jesus, if I didn't think Carrie was up to it, I'd be the first person to say, 'Bollocks, you're not riding the horse'," he confirms, before adding quietly: "At Aintree, my emotional involvement during the race will be far greater than any other trainer there."

Forest Gunner's trainer is a retired amateur rider who rode for, and received his equine education from, Monica Dickinson. He has since retained his pact with the devil of risk-takers by racing 800cc Kawasaki motorbikes at circuits including the nearby Oulton Park.

The pixie-featured woman next to him may possess a frame that looks like it would snap in half given a modest wind, but in reality it contains nine stone of courage and resilience. On this occasion she nods her assent to her husband's remarks, but you suspect that any domestic disputes are far from walkovers.

On Saturday week, Ford will become the 13th woman to ride in a Grand National - although there is a possibility that Nina Carberry, the daughter of Tommy, who partnered the 1975 winner, L'Escargot, and the Frenchwoman Nathalie Desoutte could join her. Previous female participants were largely ignored because they had no chance - Rosemary Henderson's fifth on Fiddlers Pike in 1994 is the best outcome for the distaff side - but on this occasion the media locusts have descended upon Little Budworth in old-money Cheshire in earnest. Ford's 11-year-old mount, whom she has partnered to five victories from six rides, is among the favourites in the betting.

Yet this is the woman who ostensibly quit race-riding two years ago to enjoy the riches of motherhood. She came out of retirement for last season's Foxhunters, and after her victory said that was it - unless Forest Gunner were to run in the National. "But that was a joke, really. Neither of us really thought he'd stay [the four-and-half miles of the National]."

Already the battle lines of this skirmish of the sexes have been drawn. The dual National-winning former trainer Jenny Pitman has lauded Ford's Aintree attempt, claiming: "She's got more bottle than most men." In contrast, Ginger McCain, Red Rum's trainer and the handler of last year's winner, Amberleigh House, and a man who is to equality of the sexes what Rod Stewart is to marital constancy, contends: "Horses do not win Nationals ridden by women." Lest his point is not fully appreciated, McCain adds that Ford is "a broodmare now, and having kids does not get you fit to ride Grand Nationals".

We are seated in the Fords' local, the Fox and Barrel, five minutes from their Folly Farm Stables. Ford, 33, sips from a glass of white wine - a rare interruption to a fitness campaign which, in addition to riding out five lots a day, includes swimming, running and gym work - and attempts to be diplomatic about the old whiner. The acerbic septuagenarian, who can always be counted upon to add theatre to the National, is based at Cholmondeley, only 20 minutes away down the A49.

"For non-racing people, they probably sounded like outrageous remarks," she says of this latest flourish of Ginger's spice. "But when you know him like I do, it came as no surprise at all. The ironic thing is, despite what he has said about me and lady riders, he has actually put me up twice.

"I am actually one of the very few lady riders to have ridden for Ginger. I rode for him near here, at the Cheshire point-to-point. Like most of those meetings, there is a large marquee containing a men's changing room at one end, a small ladies' room at the other and in the centre a makeshift weighing-room. The dividing walls don't go to the roof, and you can hear what's going on.

She adds: "He walked into the weighing room and boomed: 'Is there a lady rider who's ready to weigh out?'. I shouted: 'Yes, Ginger, be there in a minute'. He said 'lady rider' because to Ginger there's no such thing as a lady jockey. To be honest, you just let the insult go over your head. I think I finished second, which wasn't bad. I actually rode for him again over fences at Plumpton. It doesn't niggle at all, but it will make me more determined to go out and prove him wrong on the day.

"When I first met him, I thought he was the most rude, ignorant man I had met. Now the most undiplomatic you will get from me is that I think he is a cantankerous old dinosaur. When you get to know him, you realise that he's really got a heart of gold."

A bit like Forest Gunner's in fact. The white-faced stable star, owned by a retired farmer, John Gilsenan, and his wife, Barbara, is described by his trainer as "an oddball", but one blessed with "a heart as big as a 40-gallon barrel". Richard Ford insists: "He needs an ally to his enthusiasm. He doesn't need a dictator. Despite what Ginger says, given the jockeys that are available, Carrie riding him gives him his best chance."

His wife adds: "When he comes off the bridle, he'll do his best himself. All any jockey can do, whether it's my strength or Tony McCoy's on his back, is to keep in harmony with his balance and rhythm. There's a lot of girls who ride who try to make out that women against men in racing is an equal contest, but that's not true. We're never going to be as strong as the guys. But on certain horses, women can be effective. I'm very lucky and very privileged to be riding a horse that doesn't need brute strength."

Yet, as Ford admits herself, the National still represents unknown, potentially hazardous, territory, with two full laps and 39 other runners to contend with at Aintree a week next Saturday. How will she meet the challenge?

"On the morning, I'll kiss Hannah goodbye and then totally immerse myself in the race," she says. "I'll get there early, walk the track, then disappear into the haven of the ladies' changing room and have a cup of coffee and a fag and really start to prepare myself mentally."

She adds: "It sounds very selfish, and it's not because I'm a miserable sod, but it would suit me if there were no other lady riders in the race. My worst nightmare would be if one of my jockey friends, like Emily Jones, had a ride and was there, too, and I'd be having the banter and a chat with them when I'd really want to focus on the race."

As for the tactics she will employ in the National, she doesn't give too much away, or make too audacious a forecast. "I'll take a similar route to the one I've taken on one lap [in the Foxhunters]," she says. "Stick to the middle to outer, looking for a little bit of daylight." She adds: "I don't even begin to dream about what might happen, but if everything went to plan and we got the result we want, that would be it. I'd never dare to be so greedy as to try to do it again."

You mean you would hang up your boots? For good this time? She smiles. "The first thing I'd do would be to chuck 'em into the crowd. I did genuinely pack it in two years ago. Only I made two exceptions. I got away with the first. Please God, I'll get away with the second."

Biography

Carrie Ford

Born: 4 May 1971 in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Weight: 9st.

Family: married Richard Ford in 1996, now his assistant at Folly Farm stables, Cheshire, where her parents previously farmed. Richard was a former amateur jockey who rode for Monica Dickinson and rode out for Ginger McCain. They have a one-year-old daughter, Hannah.

First winner: Welsh Legion at Chepstow on 10th May 1994.

Career winners: 30 winners under rules, including Aintree's Foxhunters Chase in 2004, and "at least 45" victories in point-to-points.

Did you know: bookmakers were quoting 100-1 at the start of the year against a woman winning the National.