Have-a-go- singer Shân Cothi is in seventh heaven after coming seventh on her horse Langley in the St Patrick’s Day Charity Derby at Cheltenham festival.
Twelve jockeys competed in the race and Shân came in seventh, just 5.81 seconds behind the winner, Tina Cook and her horse Pascha Bere.
The soprano, actress and presenter had been training endlessly for weeks under the sharp eye of trainer Tim Vaughan at his stables in Cowbridge.
“It was a day to remember – and definitely one of the highlights of my life. I lived every jockey’s dream of racing at Cheltenham, and I’m so proud that I raced in style and got to fly the flag for Wales.
“On my own behalf and the Cancer Research UK, I’d like to thank everyone for their support – and of course, a special thank you to Tim Vaughan’s team and especially to Langley!”
This was one of the biggest challenges of Shan’s life, and in the second part of S4C’s Cheltenham Cothi series on Sunday at 8:30pm, we’ll re-live the race and discover how she felt before and after she ventured onto the saddle.
The race in Cheltenham is over a mile and five furlongs and although she has raced at Royal Ascot and Ffoslas, Shân admits she had to work even harder to get to grips with the task this time.
The purpose of the race was to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Shân has raised over £140,000 towards fighting cancer through her own charity, Amser Justin Time – Pancreatic Cancer Charity Wales.
Shân lost her husband Justin to the disease in 2007 and since then she has been campaigning to raise awareness of the disease as well as raising money to provide care for those who are suffering from it.
