AS IF WINNING a race at the Cheltenham festival wasn’t hard enough, jockey Harriet Tucker went through a gamut of emotions to ride Pacha Du Polder victory in the Foxhunter Chase this afternoon.
A point-to-point specialist, Tucker was making just her second start under rules as she partnered last year’s winner of this race to back-to-back victories.
However, if the climax of the race not thrilling enough in its own right — Tucker chased down 50/1 shot Top Wood who had made all the running — it emerged afterwards she had done so with a dislocated shoulder.
She said after the race:
“My shoulder half dislocates when I reach it too high.
Coming up to the second last it half-dislocated. And I couldn’t push it back in so I couldn’t slap him on the shoulder to get him to go forwards.
“I was pushing and praying that no one was going to beat me because I couldn’t hit him anymore with my right hand.
“I had to keep pushing and screaming at him and got there.”
You can see the incident here:
"I just had to keep pushing and screaming at him!" - Harriet Tucker reflects on dislocating her shoulder up the run in en route to winning the Foxhunter Chase aboard Pacha Du Polder @CheltenhamRaces. #TheFestival #Extraordinary pic.twitter.com/NOirM5eP0T
— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) March 16, 2018
