The least likely triumph of last week’s Cheltenham Festival belonged to Harriet Tucker, an unknown with one previous ride as a licensed jockey, whose shoulder popped out of its socket when she was trying to ride a finish. She won the Foxhunter Chase on Pacha Du Polder, a 25-1 shot despite having won the same race last year, a horse supposedly in decline who would not like the soft ground.
“It was a childhood dream,” says the 22-year-old, grinning broadly as she waits for lunch in her local with other staff from Paul Nicholls’s stable up the road. “I was watching the racing on TV with my nan when I was a kid and I was like: ‘I’m gonna do that one day.’ She said: ‘Don’t be stupid.’”
There have been all sorts of moments when that dream could have evaporated, during Friday’s race and long before it. A notably difficult one came last summer, when Tucker was close to quitting Nicholls’s yard in rebellion at the limitations of her role.
“I didn’t really get to school horses much last season so I was going to move to Ireland. I went to Gordon Elliott’s for three weeks and I came back and told Paul I was going to leave. He was not happy about it at all,” she says, laughing at the memory and doing a passable impression of her employer while he entertains an owner a few tables away. “He was like: ‘You’re an idiot, I can’t believe you’re going to leave. I would give you rides.’”
In the last week of her notice period, the Frome-born Tucker was persuaded to stay in Somerset. It helped that Nicholls mentioned the possibility of riding Pacha Du Polder in the Foxhunter but that seemed a distant prospect back in August and Tucker did not believe it would happen.
Still, she was impressed the 10-times champion trainer was reluctant to let her go. “I didn’t really think I was that special but clearly he must think something of me. I’m so glad I stayed. He would love to hear me say that …”
This past winter turned into something of a rush to get Tucker qualified to ride in races, requiring two stints at the Northern Racing College in Doncaster. Five rides were found for her in point-to-points and, remarkably, they all won.
The only blip was Pacha Du Polder, a beaten favourite in his prep race last month. At least that lowered expectations for Cheltenham. “I don’t think anyone thought he was going to perform that way, considering what he was like at Doncaster. Everyone was just going: ‘Enjoy it, enjoy it.’ So I was just smiling at the crowd, taking it all in. And in the end, I really did enjoy it.”
Pacha Du Polder did his bit with a huge leap at the last. And then Tucker’s dodgy right shoulder, having behaved itself through six other rides this winter, slipped from its moorings.
It is an injury that dates from last April when Tucker was unseated in a point-to-point. She also damaged a ligament in her ankle but, being a jump jockey, she waited a fortnight before seeking treatment for that. It was six months before she got help for her shoulder. “I just kept thinking I was being weak and stupid. Just carry on. But it was going out and coming back in and it was really hurting.”
When Tucker raised her arm to encourage Pacha Du Polder forward, her shoulder dislocated and did not reposition itself until they were across the line. “Normally, I can just roll it and it goes back in. It wasn’t going back in and it was really annoying me. So in the finish you can see me rolling my shoulder back but trying to stay in rhythm with the horse.
“I’d have liked to have ridden a tidier finish but if you’ve ridden with your shoulder out and you’ve still won … I’m very pleased with myself.”
An operation to fix the troublesome joint is lined up for June. Next spring, look for Pacha Du Polder and a fully fit Tucker back at Cheltenham, trying to guide the horse to his third consecutive Festival win.
Quick guide
Wednesday 21 March racing tips
Show
Hide
Southwell
2.00 Di’s Gift 2.30 Acker Bilk (nap) 3.05 Crosse Fire 3.40 Mister Music 4.10 Silchester 4.45 Samovar 5.15 Street Sensation
Haydock
2.10 Midnight Shadow 2.40 Chicago Lady 3.15 Just Georgie 3.50 Eagle Ridge 4.20 Buffalo Ballet 4.55 Calipso Collonges
Chepstow
2.20 Garrane 2.50 Air Navigator 3.25 Reelingintheyears 4.00 The Bay Birch 4.30 Norse Legend 5.05 Lightentertainment
Kempton
5.45 Lunar Deity (nb) 6.15 West Wing 6.45 Mozzafiato 7.15 India 7.45 Magic Mirror 8.15 Bernie’s Boy 8.45 Dalness Express 9.15 Aumerle