Amateur jockey Tessa Good is still in dreamland after recording a winner on her first ride under National Hunt Rules with an amazing success on The Baillie at Cheltenham – at the age of 50.
Good, who lives at Ginge, near Wantage, jumped the last fence in fifth place in the Hunt Staff Benefit Society Colin Nash Memorial Hunters’ Chase, almost 20 lengths behind the favourite Brer Bear and Hambaphambili.
But then in one of most remarkable finishes seen at the home of National Hunt racing, The Baillie and Good flew up the hill to beat Royal Crystalcadou by a length with Brer Bear three-quarters of a length back in third.
The Baillie was sent off a 14-1 chance, but at one point in running he was 1,000-1 on the betting exchange Betfair.
Speaking at the Kingston Blount point-to-point meeting where she was a steward, Good admitted her fairy-tale triumph had yet to sink in.
“I am still in the clouds,” she said. “It is a dream, really.
“When they kicked on, I thought I can’t kick here because I am not fit enough, and I thought I would finish behind them.
“Everyone says so many things can change up that Cheltenham hill and that is what happened to us.
“Looking at the video the first two were very tired and they were stopping and my boy just ran up the hill.”
Good, who didn’t ride in her first point-to-point until her 40th year and has partnered just three winners between the flags, added: “I was as surprised as anyone.”
Unfortunately, The Baillie pulled up lame, and he was taken away by the horse ambulance.
“It was a great shame, but they were very quick,” said Good. “Sadly I didn’t get to ride him into the winner’s enclosure. I had to walk back there carrying the saddle.”
Good said her mount, whom she trains at her mother Sallie’s stables at Letcombe Regis, had sprained a tendon.
A member of the Old Berkshire Hunt, Good’s success was special as it came in the race run in memory of Colin Nash, a huntsman, who lived at Kingston Lisle.
“It was unbelievable – particularly because it was the Colin Nash Memorial race,” she said.
“He was our huntsman for 26 years. I know the family very well and there were three generations of them there presenting.”
She had ridden The Baillie to victory on his previous outing in the members’ race at Lockinge on Easter Monday, which encouraged her to run him at Cheltenham.
“I thought it was probably my only chance to have a ride around Cheltenham and I only got my amateur licence about two weeks ago,” said Good.
She works near Lechlade for Vote-OK, which supports candidates for the next election who are in favour of repealing the hunting act.
And her incredible win has caught the imagination of the racing public, including being interviewed on Channel 4’s The Morning Line.
“The phone has never stopped ringing with a lot of people enquiring about the horse and a lot of people congratulating me,” she added.
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