It's a risky business without lucky pants

Diary of a point-to-pointer

IT was rewarding to see two lady jockeys in action last weekend at Witton Castle. Both had suffered horrific falls in the past, enough to stop most people taking hold of the reins again.

Two years ago Charlotte Cundall, 25, took a tumble when cross country schooling, leaving her with a broken vertebra and chips of bone in her spinal cord.

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She wore a metal frame on her neck for four months. Charlotte admitted to questioning her nerve afterwards but proved she had won her battle when riding Andre Chenier to finish second in the Ladies Open on Sunday. Her cheer was the loudest of the day.

Jacqueline Coward is now more renowned for her crashing fall over hurdles at Catterick last February than for winning the Yorkshire title three times.

Unconscious for 20 minutes, she spent four days in hospital with a broken collarbone and far more seriously, bruising to her brain. It took eight months to recover her full memory and normal responses. She is back riding in races regularly. "I don't feel any different,

but I can't remember the fall…" she said, "You don't think about what

might happen or you wouldn't ride!"

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Concussion is a common occurrence resulting from an awkward landing or a kick from a horse. Speed causes worse injuries than the height of the fall. Hurdle races are run at a more rapid pace than chases because a hurdle fence is 3ft 6in and a chase fence is 5ft.

In a chase the horses have to respect the fences and slow down in order to push their frame upwards as opposed to long ways, as they do over a hurdle, where they must clear every obstacle efficiently and quickly to gain ground.

If a jockey thinks about the consequences of a race fall, it is time to hang up the boots. It takes a great deal of willpower, or stupidity, to suffer bad falls without it denting confidence. Once you begin to imagine the worst that may happen, it usually does. For any sportsman, positive thinking is the fastest route to success.

It may appear quite rightly to readers that we are slightly crazy to participate in such a dangerous sport for the love of it. The danger element merely adds to the addiction. In order to reduce the psychological risk, odd superstitions can be observed being religiously carried out prior to racing by jockeys.

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All new kit should be stamped on before being worn; Oli Greenall checks his keepers are tucked in his bridle or he has a fall; Chris Dawson salutes a magpie and an old flame of mine spent hours walking round the house in just a pair of tights, stretching them in the right places, before race day (yes, the men wear tights under their breeches)

I had a lucky pair of pants. I wore them to win eight races in a row one season and then had to wear them every time I rode. They were of the flowery M&S variety, more suited to Bridget Jones than the bedroom but I was devastated when they eventually fell apart in the washing machine, flowers faded, elastic hanging off. I rushed out to replace them with the same type but never beat my lucky pant wearing tally of 14 wins after that season.

I gave dad's runners a decent blow in their races last weekend. Having missed so much fast work due to the weather, they were ready for a run. Neither liked the desperately testing ground and I wasn't too keen on it either.

My mount and I had a slight dispute on the way to the start, I wanted to go the right way, while he preferred to opt for a direct route straight through the wagon car park. I was deposited head first, losing the argument and my goggles.

I am mortified, they were my lucky ones!

Yorkshire champion lady jockey Jo Foster trains horses at Brookleigh Farm, Menston, West Yorkshire.

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