Mickaelle Michel: The world is her oyster and sushi plate.
When working with EMI Music and very close to the Toshiba-EMI team and pretty familiar with Japanese artists like Utada Hikaru, below, and makeup bands Glay and Spitz, I remember telling my team about a French jockey riding in the land of the rising sun who was the whole package to be an “idol jockey”.
Mickaelle Michel also had the potential to become a pop star in Japan who could record in French and Japanese and maybe even create something unique and bilingual, musically.
When I switched music companies and then created the Happy Wednesday brand for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, I was thinking of whether this young rider might be able to ride in Hong Kong and surprise audiences by performing at the Beer Garden at Happy Valley Racecourse. I think I even wrote a song for her.
Unfortunately, we never found out if we could make this happen as the world was hit by Covid and Hong Kong faced the double whammy of having to deal with various protest movements. This didn’t stop Mickaelle Michel participating in the Shergar Cup and with the team she was on winning.
I believe that she then returned to Japan to study to read and write in Japanese and hopefully gain a long term license to ride in Japan where she had a very strong and loyal fan base.
Though this didn’t work out at the time, Mickaelle Michel rode for a few months in Victoria before making a huge impact in South Africa.
In only seven months, she rode 47 winners including a Grade 1 win in the Daily News 2000 aboard Star Quality.
She became only the second female rider to win a Grade 1 in South Africa, a country known for its great riders, trainers and horses.
This Grade 1 winner was the prerequisite needed for her to gain a short term contract to ride in Japan and with the opportunity to try again for a long term riding contract in the racing mad country where a jockey that’s the total marketing package like Mickaelle Michel is can be a celebrity with sponsorship deals, an exclusive line of merchandise and possibly even an anime series.
First and foremost, I am a music marketing executive and this is how I think- marketing and branding.
How Mickaelle Michel thinks, I can only guess as she describes herself as a “free bird” though married to her agent and coach.
The teamwork is there, and if a betting man, I would say that in an era where female jockeys are to the fore with names like Rachel King and Saffie Osborne, MM- Mickaelle Michel can be a marketing dream and one helluva good world class rider.
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