Jailed jockey rebuilds career with help of racing friends

It's one thing being given a second chance, quite another to grab it with both hands, and while it says something for racing that a man fresh out of prison can be handed a shot at redemption, it says even more for Joe Colliver that he's working his way back to the good life he so nearly threw away.

We shouldn't forget Sam Spinner's part in all of this. The mustard-keen gelding was one of Colliver's best buddies from the day the pair landed a Catterick bumper together on his racecourse debut in February 2016, so it was no surprise that when the Sheffield-born 26-year-old needed him most, Sam was there for him, raising his game to a whole new level to land a Grade 3 staying hurdle at Haydock last month.

Horses are forgiving and non-judgemental creatures, while humans are not always so much, and when Colliver was sent to jail for ten months for attempting to pervert the course of justice in a drink-driving case that escalated out of control, he would have been forgiven for thinking his career as a promising young jockey was at an end.