'Buckingham grew up in north-west Tasmania, where her father trained racehorses. She pursued her love of thoroughbred horses throughout her childhood through pony club, riding lessons, track work and by helping her father in his stables. Bev left school in 1979 to become an apprentice jockey in her father's stable at Wesley Vale. She had her first race ride in October 1980, just a fortnight after Alison Anderson had made history as the first woman to race against men in Tasmania.
In 1982, she won the Tasmanian Jockeys' Premiership, making her the first woman in the world to win a State Jockeys' Premiership. She achieved this at the age of 17, in only her second season of racing, with 63 winners.
Bev's riding career ended after a tragic fall on 30 May 1998, in which she fractured two vertebrae in her neck. Despite being told by doctors that she would never walk again, Bev has proven herself to be a winner against all odds by regaining the use of her legs. She gave birth to her daughter in 2000 and is once again enjoying recreational riding.
In 2005, Bev was inducted into the inaugural Tasmanian Racing Hall of Fame. She has also fulfilled a long-held ambition of joining her father as a racehorse trainer.'
Source: Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women
