"I just don't feel women are suited for my type of work" ~ Ted Atkinson

He was Tom Fool's regular rider but fifty odd years later, Ted Atkinson's words sound foolhardy. Here's an article from the St Petersburg Times dated April 22, 1955 reporting on women being "allowed" to ride in France for the first time. Two months later Sports Illustrated published an informal poll on the subject in its edition of June 27, 1955. Fourteen years later in 1969, Diane Crump would break this barrier in the United States.

Read this article...