Linda Jones Retirement Village

Each Ryman village is named in honour of a Kiwi or Aussie trailblazer: Anthony Wilding, Lady Diana Isaac, Evelyn Page. They pushed further and set the bar high for others to aspire to. In creating communities that challenge the expectations of ageing, Ryman villages are also setting the bar high. They’re demonstrating that a retirement lifestyle brimming with new experiences, connections and fulfilment is something we should aspire to. Our Kiwi and Aussie namesakes represent the measure of inspiration, while Ryman villages represent the measure of retirement living.

Linda Jones

Former jockey Linda Jones bravely and fiercely blazed a trail for women in the horse racing world. Having started in the women-only ‘Powder Puff Derbies’, Linda went on to lead the campaign for equal rights in horse racing.

Her first application to be a jockey was turned down because she was too old (at 24), not strong enough, and married. But she persisted until she became the first New Zealand women jockey able to race against men in 1977. By 1978 she had achieved her first win of many, courtesy of her remarkable talent for riding horses. That year, she rode 18 winners and was second on the jockey’s premiership by December 1978. She was also the world’s first woman to win a derby in Trentham in 1979, on Holy Toledo.

In 1990, Linda Jones was inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame as the first woman inductee. While an injury cut her career short after two record-breaking seasons, she continued to campaign for equality in horse racing.

Read more about the life of this talented sportswoman and New Zealand’s first woman jockey in The Linda Jones Story by John Costello.