The first lady of racing makes the most of her trade

THERE are not many 20-year-old women who are as calm, collected and determined as NSW's first female racing steward, Katie Atherton.

Only two weeks after being appointed a full-time steward by NSW Racing, Ms Atherton heard top jockey Nash Rawiller swear - but not directly at her, she stresses. Ms Atherton initiated action which resulted in Rawiller being fined $500 for inappropriate language, but she was unfazed by the incident. ''They [jockeys like Rawiller] have hard jobs, and I understand that they're under a lot of pressure,'' she said.

At 20, Ms Atherton is the youngest steward - racing's rule-keepers and magistrates - and the first woman to be appointed a full-time racing stipendiary steward in NSW, said Ray Murrihy, Racing NSW chief steward. ''We're certainly very much open to female applicants,'' Mr Murrihy said. ''But up to this point in time, the stewards' ranks have certainly been historically dominated by men and that's changing.''

It's not surprising that Ms Atherton is horse crazy at work and at home. She admits that she was one of those girls who fell in love with pink ponies at five. Even now, she admits to dressing her male horse, Joey Johns, in pink, too.

Her love of horses prompted her to leave five years ago to qualify as a veterinary nurse. After a year, she realised she wanted something more challenging.

She got her foot in the racing door when she landed a job as a rider for Gary Portelli, a racehorse trainer at Warwick Farm. She went from training horses to observing them in her next job working for a bookmaker, Henry Noonan.

She was Noonan's human form guide, watching and reporting back on how horses trained and looked, and making recommendations on which horses were worth betting on.

Her advice must have been good because Noonan ''was devastated'' when she left.

It was while hanging around the mounted enclosure that Ms Atherton started watching the stewards and formulating a plan: ''I want to do that, but I found out there was no female stewards,'' she said.

When she asked about becoming a steward, ''People told me no girls do it. And I thought, 'Why don't girls do it? Why not?' '' Even though it was a male dominated industry, she decided that she wanted to be ''the first girl, and I said that to all the people who said I couldn't''.

Now her keen eye for horse form, and a notebook that she keeps to record each horse's performance and health from week to week, are assets that she uses when making judgments about a horse's fitness to race.

''The horses' welfare and well-being is insanely important to me, and I hate to think there is any horse that will pull up lame.

''I want to make sure they're ready to race again.''