'This year has been especially hard' - Daryl Jacob fights back to winner's enclosure after 'complex' injury

Daryl Jacob rode his first winner after returning from a challenging injury when Knockanore impressively took the 2m4f handicap chase at Uttoxeter for trainer Ryan Potter.

The jockey has not enjoyed the best luck in what will be his final season riding, but put some significant setbacks behind him when successful for the same connections that entrusted him with the Old Roan winner Jetoile at Aintree last year.

"I'm not getting any younger!" he said. "This year has been especially hard. It was difficult getting back from the shoulder operation and the collarbone break in March and then I came back, started to find my rhythm and rode my 1,000th winner, but then I broke my collarbone in a different place, which was much more complex."

On Knockanore, who was winning for the first time since last April, he said: "It was pleasing because he's a tricky customer. The ground was right, the track was right and he got into a nice rhythm. He was always going to do it at some point, but when was anyone's guess."

Jacob, who will ride the talented James Du Berlais at Ascot on Saturday, is taking a considered approach to the second half of the season as he prepares for retirement. 

"The most important thing is for me to go out and enjoy it and embrace it," he said. "I can't imagine I'm going to run around like a headless chicken, I'm going to be a little bit mindful of what I ride. I've achieved everything I wanted to. It would be great to ride another big winner and that's what I'm looking for now."

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