'Retirement has done me good – when I'm riding I feel excited'

Female jockeys may be under-represented in Britain in strictly numerical terms, but if media obsession is any kind of indicator, then Hayley Turner is redressing the balance all by herself. Combine column inches in the national press with random Twitter activity, then add them to the number of paid jobs currently held down by the Nottingham-born princess of the pigskin, and you have the kind of figure that suggests a passable attempt at world domination.

For a woman who was once simply a jockey – albeit a very good one – Turner has progressed to the point where she is in demand as a tipster, TV personality, fashion model, gender equality spokesperson, Matchbook betting exchange ambassador and OBE. Now that she has declared her intention to come out of retirement and spend the winter working in France, she can restore 'professional rider' to her list of gainful employment, but for all that she is a hot commodity across a broad spectrum, there are still people who remain unconvinced.

In the festering outer reaches of social media there lurk beings whose principal hobby is Turner-bashing. When she was riding, they hated her; when she retired, they rejoiced; when she said she was coming back, they lamented her caprice, although this was not quite how they put it; and when she popped up as part of the new ITV Racing team, they spontaneously combusted. She's not alone in this, of course, but the smiling 34-year-old seems streets ahead of the rest in her ability to absorb the negativity and transform it into a long-running chuckle-fest that is fun for all the family.