Serena Brotherton may not be your typical lawyer, but she is, literally, one you can bet on. A solicitor in the wills and probate team of Yorkshire firm Langleys, Brotherton is also a champion jockey.

Born in 1970, Brotherton came from a family with horse-riding in its blood. Her grandmother owned Free Booter, a Grand National winning horse in 1950, and her mother, Sarah, was a successful Point to Pointer. Her grandfather Tony Bethall was Master of Foxhounds for the Holderness Hunt. Not to be outdone, her uncle and aunt were also devoted equestrians. As she says: “I was never really going to do anything else.”

Indeed, the Newcastle University law graduate can’t remember the first time she sat astride a horse. “It was probably as soon as I could walk,” she says. Certainly, her childhood was spent immersed in all things equine, an interest she pursued throughout university — she competed in her first Point to Point when she was 21 — and on through her studies at the College of Law at York.

Brotherton took time out before entering the law. “I took two years off before my training contract, so that I could ride and learn as much as possible,” she says. She had earlier, in a gap year, ridden for renowned racehorse trainer Peter Easterby — still the only trainer to have saddled over 1,000 winners in Britain in both National Hunt and flat racing.

Brotherton’s experience with Easterby paid dividends, though for most of her career as an amateur jockey she has owned and trained horses with her mother. She has won numerous Point to Points but it is on the flat where Brotherton has made her name. “I won the national lady amateur’s championship on the flat in 2005 and 2006,” she says. In 2007, she finished sixth, but has continued to retain an air of “leading lady” about her — not least because of her regular appearances at invitation races in Malaysia where she has represented the Fegentri (International Federation of Gentlemen and Lady Riders).

Brotherton’s array of achievements include two wins in the Queen Mothers Cup at York, on Flower O'Cannie (1999) and Sporting Gesture (2003), and being crowned Yorkshire Area Ladies Champion. She has been competing on the flat since 1996, and though she would love to race in the Grand National, she hasn't ridden enough winners over jumps on the racecourse proper. Indeed, Brotherton says that to ride as a professional is unlikely, given her present weight of nine stone. “I’d need to be a stone lighter,” she says with typically modest, self-deprecating laughter. As she adds, though: “You have to be very fit to ride and on the days I’m not riding I go to the gym to train. I’ll keep riding into well into my 40s, certainly.”

Winning races provides an intense thrill. “It’s just the best thing ever,” she says, “and such a contrast to life in the office.” Not that Brotherton can complain of being tied to her desk too much. “I work three days a week so that I can ride as much as possible. Working in wills and probate is perfect, too: there are rarely deadlines or the need to work into the night. Yes, you could say I’ve tailored my career to suit my passion.”

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