'I don't want safe, I want speed!' - meet the 72-year-old set to ride in the Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood

'Age is but a number' is a popular old adage and 72-year-old racing enthusiast Caroline Miller will be hoping it rings true when she tackles the Markel Magnolia Cup at Glorious Goodwood.

Miller refers to her story as "like a fairytale in a children's book" and jumped at the chance to compete in the unique five-and-a-half-furlong dash on Friday week.

"You have very attractive girls, ex-Olympians and celebrities riding in it usually and I'm just an ordinary person, but they asked me and I said okay," she said. "I've been riding out at Gary Moore's for two years because I'm obsessed and I want to keep fit.

"Because you're older, you cannot be deemed to be useless and I passed the jockey test on May 4. I do exercise classes, cardio and weights every day. I'm riding out three times a week and doing two lots. I'm upsides Tom Queally and Jamie Moore – it's extraordinary and my absolute dream. Even now I find it terribly difficult to leave the horses – they're just a magnet.

"I don't want to be like some of these older people, I've got too much energy and too much to do in life. I'm not on any pills, I don't ache and I'm not in any pain. If I can ride a racehorse down Goodwood's famous straight then I'll do it and I'm totally dedicated to it."

Caroline Miller: "If I can ride a racehorse down Goodwood's famous straight then I'll do it"

Miller was brought up on a farm and learned to ride on a donkey before her dreams of owning a horse were shelved when her family were forced to sell the land and move into a small flat.

Pursuing a career in secretarial work and languages didn't stop her riding in point-to-points for Joss Musson, breeder of 1972 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup winner Charlie Potheen, and gaining various equestrian qualifications, and it was not long before the pull of racing drew her back in.

"I ended up meeting Judith [cousin of former trainer Ian] Balding in my early 30s," Miller explains. "It was 1989 and I'd just had a baby, I was a single parent after meeting the wrong guy. I ended up riding out for Toby Balding when he had Beech Road and Morley Street, and I was there when Little Polveir and Jimmy Frost won the Grand National.

"When I was in my late 50s, Toby gave me a racehorse called Breezer. I had a full-time job, a teenage daughter and a new marriage and I thought, 'There's no way I can have a horse', but I did and he changed my life. He'd win when he wanted and he did. He's a monkey – I've still got him and he's 23."

'I want to really show I can ride'

Miller will likely partner the Moore-trained stalwart Stormingin in Friday's race, which this year will be run to raise funds for the charity Education Above All, helping to provide schooling for at-risk girls in rural Malawi. Although Miller will be lining up alongside women up to 50 years her junior, she is keen to make her mark.

"I've got no chance of winning it because Stormingin's not got speed, he's ten and he runs over a mile and a half, so I'm really in the doldrums," she said of her chance.

"Because I'm older I want to really show I can ride. Jamie said, 'Look, we want you safe' and I said, 'I don't want safe, I want speed!' I'm fine and I can handle it'. I'm very competitive and not nervous at all. Everybody's making such a fuss about my age but it's nothing."

On her plans for the future, she added: "If I don't do any good in this one I might try another charity race and they won't get rid of me any time soon at Gary's. I'll keep on doing that and anything else for charity – as long as it's not jumping out of an aeroplane!"

If you wish to support Caroline Miller's fundraising ride in the Magnolia Cup, you can do so by following this link

Magnolia Cup jockeys

• Caroline Miller – racing enthusiast and supporter of rehoming of racehorses
• Dr Laura Toogood – digital expert, businesswoman, media commentator and author
• Eliza McCalmont – work-rider for George Scott
• Katie Dorsett – sports rehabilitation therapist
• Lyn Comerford – director of strategy and operation at Markel
• Khadija Al-Bastaki – Qatari rider
• Milica Dušanović – civil servant and naval reserve officer
• Olivia Kennedy – owner of cleaning business, single mother and member of Cool Ridings
• Roya Nikkhah – royal editor for The Sunday Times, journalist and broadcaster
• Saffron Oliver – e-commerce development at Castle Vending
• Annabelle Hadden-Wight – work-rider and secretary for Jack Jones Racing
• Elizabeth Prosser – social media and advertising executive for EBN

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