Helen Johnson Houghton (original) (raw)

Helen Marjorie Johnson Houghton (née Walwyn; 8 November 1910 – 4 December 2012) was a British racehorse trainer. She was the first woman to train a Classic flat races winner. Her horse Gilles de Retz won the 2,000 Guineas in 1956, but her name did not appear in the record books as the Jockey Club did not recognise women trainers at that time and the horse ran under the name of her assistant, , instead. She was one of the first three women to be elected as a member of the Jockey Club in December 1977, alongside Priscilla Hastings and Ruth Wood (née Primrose), Countess of Halifax.