| Occupation: | Jockey |
| Birth Date: | 31 July 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Waterperry, South Oxfordshire, England |
| Nationality: | British |
| Height: | 155cm |
| Weight: | 50kg |
Rachel King (born 31 July 1990) is a Group 1 winning British jockey based in Australia.[1]
King was born in Waterperry near Oxford.[2] Her father, Chris, was a fishmonger and amateur jockey and trainer who rode in point-to-points.[2] [3] While at school, she had a holiday job in the yard of trainer Mick Channon.[3] After leaving school, she worked in the yard of dual-purpose trainer Alan King, where she had a few rides as an amateur jockey on the flat and over hurdles.[3] Her first win was in a point-to-point on Lady De Paris in 2007 at Tweseldown Racecourse.[1] After a brief apprenticeship to Mark Usher, she returned to amateur riding, spending three years as secretary and work rider to Clive Cox in Lambourn and winning a few races.[3]
In 2014, King went to Sydney, Australia, for a working holiday. After spending two months at the yard of James and Bart Cummings, she decided to stay in Australia and became an apprentice for trainer Gai Waterhouse, riding her first winner in 2015 and claimed the 2016/17 Sydney Champion Apprentice title with 88 wins.[2]
King's first Group race success came in March 2018, when Lanciato, trained by Mark Newnham, won the Group 3 Newcastle Newmarket Handicap. This was followed in October 2018 by her first Group 1 win, riding Maid Of Heaven for Newnham in the Spring Champion Stakes.[4]
King was invited to Japan in August 2023 to represent Australia in the annual . She finished in second place, one point behind Japanese jockey Mirai Iwata.[5] On 4 November 2023, she secured her fifth Group 1 win, riding Ozzmosis for Bjorn Baker in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne.
King returned to Japan in January 2024 for two months after being granted a short-term license, sponsored by trainer Noriyuki Hori. On 21 January, King won the Grade 2 American Jockey Club Cup on for Hori, making her the first foreign female jockey to win a graded flat race in Japan.[6] She went on to win the Grade 3 Tokyo Shimbun Hai on Sakura Toujours for Hori.[4] In all, she won 16 races in Japan.[7]
