By Bill Finley
It's been nearly a year-and-a-half since Chantal Sutherland last rode. Her career was sidelined May 6, 2023 after a freak accident at Gulfstream when she pulled her mount up when the horse was frightened by geese crossing the track. Sutherland was thrown from the saddle and suffered a very serious injury. She snapped the humerus bone right off the shoulder and with her arm hanging grotesquely it was no longer attached to any part of her body. At time, the 48-year old rider grew so despondent that she feared that she would never ride again.
But she never gave up and she persisted. The reward, after a lot of hard work and soul-searching, is that she is now back. She will have her first mount back Friday evening in Dubai, where she will ride the debuting Pocket Phone (Ire) (Almanzor {Fr}) for trainer Bhupat Semar.
“I feel really good,” she said. “I feel positive about it. It's time to make the move and jump back in. I always feel like I could be more perfect. You don't get super racing fit until you've had a few rides. As far as nerves, I'm good. I feel like I've done this a lot, a million times. I want to give the filly a really good race, get out of the gate and get good position. I want to focus on the small things and hopefully it will work out.”
Sutherland accepted the offer to ride for Semar rather than returning to Gulfstream.
“I'll be here until Apr. 15,” she said. “I chose Dubai because if I came back to Gulfstream off an injury and had to compete against Irad and Tyler Gaffalione and the rest, that was going to be tough. There are some fabulous riders at Gulfstream. These guys are no joke and they are really good jockeys. You have to have bring your 'A game.' I'm not saying I don't have my 'A game' but those guys have most of the business locked up.
The injury could have not come at a worse time for Sutherland. After some lean years, she was once again riding five or six a day and winning races. One of the big differences is that trainer Jorge Delgado started giving her a lot of live mounts. She won 83 races in 2021–the most since she had 152 wins in 2010.
Then came the accident, which occurred in the English Channel Stakes aboard Haruki (Karakontie {(Jpn)}.
Chantal Sutherland | Ryan Thompson
“I picked up that horse in the stakes and was riding seven or eight a day,” she said. “I was rolling, doing very well in my career. I was really happy to be riding at Gulfstream and living in Florida. Unfortunately, that horse really freaked out, which is normal for a horse because they are flight animals. There was nothing I could do to stop him or help myself. He pivoted really hard to the right. I fell off to the left. He also banged into winner of race and that jockey fell off as well.”
Sutherland feels that accident was avoidable and that Gulfstream should have taken measures to keep the geese from crossing the track.
“It was so weird to see something like that,” Sutherland said. “It was a moment of real shock and horror. After that nothing else went well. The ambulance was not great and they didn't come to get me. I had to crawl over three tracks to get to the ambulance. Over all, it was a really bad experience. I feel that accident was avoidable. Every racetrack has a responsibility to make it safe for the jockeys and respect us and care about us. I felt like I got thrown to the curb.”
She admits that she had trouble coming to grips over what had happened to her, which is that her life was turned upside down. Not only was she not riding, but she was earning no income and didn't any family members close by to help her with her recovery.
“There was a dark place I went to,” she said. “About three months after the incident, there was pain and suffering and I was worried my body would never look the same. It was real. I was alone, not having family here for me. I had to do things like get someone to wash my hair for me. I went through some really tough times.
“For the last year and a half, things have not been easy financially,” she said. “I still have property taxes and bills to pay and I had no one to help me. I don't have a husband to help. You dip into your savings and your retirement plan is untouchable. I feel happy now. I feel like I'm in the right place, where I need t be. I love racing. It's in my heart. I feel like this is my calling and passion. I know I can't do it forever, but as long as I have this opportunity, I am going for it and hope it works out. I'm on a mission.”
She is looking forward to riding in Dubai and calls it “the coolest place on Earth.” But she knows her future is back in the U.S. She said she will be based at Monmouth this summer, but plans to go anywhere Delgado needs her to go.
“I am going to go back to Monmouth to ride for Jorge Delgado,” she said. “We talk regularly. I'll do New Jersey, Saratoga, Delaware Park, Parx. I am ready to work. I have to get back to where I was. I've gone through a tough process. I've definitely built more character. I don't know how much more character I need, but I got it anyway.”
She doesn't know when that first win will come, which will be her first since Apr. 30, 2023. She does know that it's going to feel very good.
“I can't wait, are you kidding?” Sutherland said. “It will be magical. I hope it's for Christmas because I love Santa. But whenever it happens, it happens. I'm just so glad to be back.”
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