A YOUNG horse racing enthusiast is on track to be only the second female jockey to ride in the Grand National.

Rebecca Davies, aged 17, graduated this week from The British Racing School in Newmarket, after completing a nine-week foundation course.

The teenager spent Christmas and New Year away from her Atherton home while she completed the intensive first step to realising her ambition -- to be a National Hunt jockey -- very ambitious, particularly since it is a predominantly male industry, with only one woman having ever ridden in the Grand National.

Rebecca decided she wanted to work with horses at the age of 12, when she started Canon Slade High School. Now she has completed the foundation course and is set to start her new job at a race horse training yard later this month. Here she will continue on-the-job training as well as carrying out general stable duties.