Billy Loughnane: 'On my apprentice course I said I wanted to win the championship one day - but we didn't think it would be this year'

Back in November, Billy Loughnane was like a bear with a sore head. He was on a losing run of 26 rides and the wait for his first winner under rules was becoming unbearable.

"He kept saying, 'Dad, I need a winner,'" recalls his father, Mark. "We went away for a week to Dubai and on his last ride before we went he was beaten a nose at Lingfield. That trip from Lingfield to Birmingham airport was the longest two hours of my life – he was doing my head in!"

As is often the case, life looks a little rosier after a holiday and, returning to the track on a misty evening at Wolverhampton, Swiss Rowe put the young rider in the winner's enclosure for the first time. He was off and running.