Three years after nearly losing a foot, Gina Mangan is on the way up

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In Monday's email Chris reflects on the comeback of jockey Gina Mangan – and subscribers can get more great insight, tips and racing chat from Chris every Monday to Friday.

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"It didn't sound very good," the extra-dry Gina Mangan told me a few years back, recalling how doctors had mentioned she might lose one of her feet in the wake of a really nasty gallops injury. Mangan had managed to land on her feet but this proved one of those occasions when doing so was a bad outcome; she was moving at such speed that she immediately dislocated both ankles.

"It mushed all the bone," was how she described it. "It was a right old mess."

Rebuilding work was attempted through bone grafts, but there were fears the grafts might not take because the blood flow to one of her feet had been interrupted for so long, the tissue had begun to die.

Well, she kept both feet and, though it would be going too far to say she has made a full recovery, she's riding better than ever. Saturday's Old Borough Cup became her biggest win so far and a crowning moment for her best year yet, whether measured by winners (16) or prize money.

Perseverance has been necessary. It took the Dunshaughlin native four years to reach the modest landmark of her tenth winner.

Thankfully, better chances come her way these days and she's had seven winners in the last fortnight alone, at a 32 per cent rate. Her 5lb claim is starting to look pretty valuable.

Has her head been turned? No chance.

"It meant a hell of a lot," she tells the Front Runner of Saturday's success aboard Island Brave. "I can't help but feel really undeserving of it. It's a lot to do with luck, being in the right place at the right time and getting the opportunity on a nice horse like that. I'm trying to soak it all in but it is quite surreal.

"I had very little to worry about. The horse had a great profile. His win in the race last year was vital, to see what Silvestre de Sousa did on him; he stretched and he stretched and this horse just kept finding."

Mangan is too polite to mention that De Sousa broke the whip rules in last year's Old Borough Cup, triggering a 15-day totting-up ban, a fate she managed to avoid.

Island Brave is a gutsy front-runner, well suited by quick ground, and Mangan must have been on excellent terms with herself through the early stages as they set a sustainable pace and yet were allowed an easy lead. That changed in the back straight as Hollie Doyle edged past on Amtiyaz.

Though it was a long way from home, Mangan would not let her rival get a length up. "There was no hope in hell I was giving Hollie that rail," she says. "If I'd had to go around her, that wouldn't have been ideal."

Amtiyaz tired in the straight and three others got in each other's way as they tried to get to grips with the leader. Island Brave, meanwhile, was drawing strength from the rail.

"I wasn't sure where the rest of the field were in terms of following our pace. I knew that if they'd been very conservative, they'd probably just come and swamp us. But they didn't and I saw the three pole, then the two and the one ... I've a bit of a sore throat from screaming him home."

How does she reflect on her fruitful summer? "It's hard to deny, it's going quite well. But I'm a bit precarious about the whole thing. I mean, what goes up must come down.

"I think what has changed is I'm just surrounded by great people who have my best interests at heart, which goes a long way. I'm probably riding with a bit more confidence, even though in my mind I'm not riding any different, but probably making the right decisions, unbeknownst to me."

The new relationship with Island Brave's trainer, Heather Main, might have quite a bit of mileage in it, since they've enjoyed two wins in weekend handicaps from four runners together. At Sandown a fortnight ago, Mangan asked Main: "How did you end up with me?"

It turned out to be the work of her agent, Russ James. "I'm very pleased to hear he's doing his job. He works very hard every day."

Mangan will be back in action at Goodwood tomorrow and Chepstow, a particularly happy hunting ground, on Thursday. But you won't see her tackling the undulations before racing in her trainers, as some jockeys do when there's still a pound or two to lose.

"I can't run any more," she says, referring back to that double-ankle injury in 2019. "It was a life-changing one. Everything had to change for me and it will do for the rest of my life but the fact that I'm able to do what I love, you've got to pinch yourself every day.

"I find the riding quite easy. You'd be surprised how static your ankle is when you ride.

"Ageing won't be very good for me. The ankles are probably going to be arthritic a bit earlier than desired. But you've got to live in the moment. There's a bit of pain management but it's no different to what any other injured jockey would probably have to go through."

What's her ambition in racing? "To keep doing this for as long as I bloody can. I don't really want to put my hand to anything else.

"I'm at my happiest when I'm on a horse. I could live forever and not be able to repay horses for what they've given me. It's never-ending. They're magnificent to be around. That's what I get up for every morning."

Monday's picks

I may have mentioned Melburnian (5.30) in this slot before and it's good to see the chestnut mare back on a racecourse. She showed real promise at Hexham in June after joining Rebecca Menzies from Tony Martin and I think can be forgiven a poor effort when sent back to the track a fortnight later over a half-mile further.

Now she switches back to the Flat at Newcastle, in which sphere her rating of 71 would be lenient if she can get back to something like her best form in Ireland. I like Menzies and feel this mare has more to offer, so I'll give her an each-way chance at 33-1, even though there is the distinct possibility that this is a run back on the way to a hurdles campaign.

At Galway, Indigo Breeze (6.45) can get off the mark over fences at 7-4 for Gordon Elliott and Davy Russell. He was an eyecatcher when running on into eighth in the Coral Cup and put up a first effort over fences that was admirable until he got Limerick's second-last wrong and fell.

He paid the price for trying to harry a Willie Mullins hotpot that day but this might be a better opening. He's up against Hallowed Star, who proved a handicap blot here in July, but that was over hurdles on softer ground and this is his first try over the bigger obstacles.

Richard Birch is back with four tips for Monday.

Three things to look out for today . . .

1. Archie Watson gets a chance with quite a nicely bred but so far frustrating filly in the Qatar claret today. Electress has joined him from Ralph Beckett after starting her career 0/6 and now drops back in trip to 1m2f and tries Class 5 for the first time at Brighton. She's by Galileo out of Just The Judge, an Irish Guineas winner, and is a half sister to a Listed winner in France. The form has worked out of a Goodwood maiden in which she was a close third to Inverness last year but she hasn't finished within eight lengths of a winner since moving into handicaps and is now down to a rating of 72. Watson recently passed £1m in prize money for the fourth time in his seven seasons and has a 20 per cent recent strike-rate.

2. Galway has attracted some classy types for the Deacy Gilligan Hurdle, including Cheltenham Festival winner The Shunter, back over hurdles for the first time since the Punchestown Festival. Darver Star, the Champion Hurdle third of 2020 and a winner last time, is in the mix, while the Willie Mullins / Paul Townend team rely on Shewearsitwell, pulled up in the Galway Hurdle when last seen.

3. At my old paper, if a trainer was really, really going well, we sometimes described them, with obvious inaccuracy, as "literally on fire". I think the time has come to wheel out this highest of praise in this space, as Simon and Ed Crisford are, very clearly, literally on fire, with 14 winners from 25 runners in the past fortnight for a Martin-Pipe-in-August-esque strike-rate of 56 per cent. The Crisfords have one runner today when Kingori makes a belated debut in a Newcastle maiden. This three-year-old is by Animal Kingdom out of a mare who won on her second start as a juvenile. The bookies have chalked him up at even money.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content