Hayley Turner's achievement at becoming the first female jockey to ride a century of winners in Britain has to be given the credit it is due.

The Nottingham-born 25-year-old competes off a level playing field directly against her male counterparts in a sport where strength is a key issue.

Women have shown themselves to be top-class showjumpers but in that sport they don't have to deal with the hustle and bustle of a driving finish with mud or sand kicking up into their faces.

But there are few other examples of female success against men with Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie playing in golf tournaments without winning and Anastasia "From Russia With Love" Dobromyslova crashing out in the first round of the current PDC World Darts Championships at the Alexandra Palace.

Frenchwoman Michele Mouton did find success when winning a stage of the World Rally Championship in 1981 and another driver, Danica Patrick, finished fourth in the 2005 Indianapolis 500. But her achievement was criticised by rival Robby Gordon who claimed she had an unfair advantage because she weighed just 100lbs, making her car lighter and faster.

Jockey Meriel Tufnell was the first woman to ride a winner under rules in Britain at Kempton in 1972 while Alex Greaves became the first female to win a Group 1 race when she dead-heated on Ya Malak in the 1997 Nunthorpe Stakes.

Turner brought up her century on Mullitovermaurice in a driving finish at Wolverhampton last night with top-class jockeys Nicky Mackay, Shane Kelly and Chris Catlin all behind. She said: "It's been a fantastic year and what a great way to end it. I wasn't sure I would do it, but December has been a good month for me and now that I have managed it I am ready for a holiday."

Double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington is celebrating a New Year's OBE and Turner can expect similar recognition and maybe a top stable jockey job in due course.