The finish to the 4.10 Foxhunter's at Cheltenham this afternoon was astoundingly close.
Alongside the eventual winner Pacha Du Polder, Top Wood was in contention right to the very end. The battle for third was closer still; Barel Of Laughs edging it ahead of Cousin Pete and Caid Du Berlais.
However, shortly after finishing the highly competitive race, Harriet Tucker on Pacha De Polder explained the kind of pressure she was really under going into the home straight:
My shoulder half-dislocates sometimes when I reach it too high, so when I was coming up to the second-last, it half-dislocated and I couldn't push it back in.
Impinging on her ability to guide the horse, Tucker recalled "just praying that nobody was going to beat me because I couldn't hit him anymore with my right hand."
Harriet Tucker dislocated her shoulder and put it back in herself on the run-in! Extraordinary.
— Rishi Persad (@RishiPersad1) March 16, 2018
Harriet Tucker has just said her shoulder dislocated on the run in on Pacha Du Polder. Just popped it back in!!!
— John Hunt (@HuntyCaller) March 16, 2018
Foxhunter winner Harriet Tucker confirms to Racing UK that she dislocated her shoulder during the race. "At the second-last, I had to push it back in!" What a remarkable win on Pacha Du Polder! pic.twitter.com/fesvacv4gF
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) March 16, 2018
Operating with a shoulder in tatters whilst on the back of a horse going for your first Cheltenham festival win, the trainer of the horse Paul Nicholls explained his thrill after witnessing Tucker seal the victory on the 25/1 shot:
[Female jockeys] never get chances like that, unless you get horses running races like that, owners like Andy Stewart who give good people a chance, and trainers like me that give them a chance.
For all that stick I get from running horses in those races, forget that, it's brilliant for people like [Harriet]. It's a life-changing experience for them.
You can watch the entirety of Tucker's post-race interview below, giving a sight of the moment when that shoulder dislocated as she came to the final chase.
"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
