Multitasking trainer

Vet Ilka Gansera-Lévêque on training with Monty Roberts, her jockey grounding, and living "the American dream" alongside the giants of the turf in Newmarket

- Xander Brett

My father was a pilot in the German air force, so we moved house often as a family. We went racing, however, wherever we were based. Aged 13, I was given a pony. But even before that, I knew I wanted to be a jockey.

I did my apprenticeship with Germany’s champion trainer, Bruno Schütz. I was the only girl in the yard, though there was also an older woman and an amateur who’d come in occasionally. Schütz was strict: one of those old-fashioned governors. But from him I took a strong work ethic, and a drive to see things through.

The German bloodstock industry has always been strong, but while Germany broadcasts eventing on national television, racing still plays out on the sidelines.

After three years as an apprentice jockey, I spent a year in America with renowned horse whisperer Monty Roberts. He was based in Solvang, California ( just north of Santa Barbara), and he jokingly told me: “If you teach me German, I’ll teach you everything I know about horses.” Well, he certainly kept his promise!