If falling off horses and living with a degree of back pain can be considered part of anyone’s life-dream, then it’s reassuring to know that horseracing remains a sport which is capable of delivering fairytale endings.

I remember when Charlotte Jones, who retired from the saddle on Wednesday, rode her first ever winner back in 2017 aboard Lough Kent. A former stablemate of Altior, Buveur d’Air, Might Bite and Sprinter Sacre, Lough Kent had been purchased out of Nicky Henderson’s Lambourn yard to be trained in Cartmel by Jimmy Moffatt. Having scored just once in sixteen British outings under the likes of Barry Geraghty and Nico De Boinville, Charlotte took over the ride from Brian Hughes (who won on the gelding at Newcastle) at Cartmel’s May Meeting, catching another, better fancied, runner of Jimmy’s just 50 yards from the line in a tight finish.

If Jimmy had harboured high hopes for Fiosrach in the Wainright Ale Conditional Jockeys Hurdle that day, he hid it well – delighted as he was to have provided this most improbably jockey with a winning ride.

Improbable because unlike professionals such as Ryan Moore (the rider of Sunday’s selection Constitution River at Chantilly) who hales from a racing dynasty, Charlotte had no connection to horseracing at all before volunteering to help out at Jimmy’s stable in 2016. Having been brought up in the coastal town of Barrow-in-Furness, it’s reported that she’d never even sat on a racehorse until the age of 20.

Eighty-six winners later, Charlotte retired having become the only fully professional female jockey riding regularly in the North and one of only four currently licensed women to have ridden out their claim (a weight allowance allotted to Conditional Jockeys who have ridden fewer than 75 winners) – the others being Lilly Pinchin, Isabel Williams and Tabitha Worsley.

While Charlotte heads into the sunset with plans to forge a new career as a racehorse trainer, her story will inspire hope in the hearts of many other wannabe jockeys – some of whom will descend on Kelso this Sunday for the annual Pony Club pony racing day. Children from all over Britain, many with no direct connection to racing, have entered for the races which will take place, without bookmakers or betting, on the track in front of the grandstands.

The riders who must be aged no younger than 9 years old, and no older than 16, compete in categories according to the height of their ponies (128cm, 138cm, and 148cm) and the riders’ experience – although even a beginner is obliged by the race conditions to have participated in at least two Pony Club rallies where they have ridden independently in a large open space.

The races offer a great learning experience as well as a thrilling introduction to the sport. Many of the children will dream of riding one day at the Cheltenham Festival, or winning races at Aintree. For a lucky few – just like Charlotte Jones, that dream can come true.