David slips into overdrive as he clocks up miles and winners

Buying second-hand cars from jockeys was always a high-mileage transaction and it seems the lightly used car owned by point-to-point riders is also now a rarity.

The once-parochial sport has been opened up by faster roads and lorries far superior to the cattle trucks that used to ferry farmers’ horses to local venues. Yet Evan David has brought new meaning to the term long-distance driver, albeit with an outstanding outcome.

In eight seasons on the Welsh circuit he had failed to achieve a double-figure tally of winners and slumped to just two successes in 2015-16, yet 12 months on he has notched 21 victories at a 33 per cent strike-rate. An unexpected bonus has been a place in the Great Britain team that will take on Ireland at Kingston Blount on Friday, May 26.