Rachael Blackmore showed incredible skill to guide Inthepocket to a first Grade One success in the Poundland Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Friday.
The Tipperary jockey dropped her stick during the race and had to use the horse's reins in the closing stages, while she also pulled her silks down over her hand to help get a grip of the reins.
A Grade Two winner at Navan earlier in the season for Henry de Bromhead, the JP McManus-owned six-year-old went on to fill the runner-up at the highest level at the Dublin Racing Festival before finishing a creditable fourth to Marine Nationale in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.
