Latest member of the Bowen family off to a flying start

Most teenagers would take a lie-in on their 16th birthday, but not James Bowen from Pembrokeshire.

His name might sound familiar, for Bowen is the son of trainer Peter and younger brother of jockey Sean, so five rides in three-mile point-to-points at Howick last Sunday was considered a perfectly normal introduction to a sport of hard knocks, even on his birthday.

Two wins, a second, a fall and a pull-up completed a pretty remarkable day for the youngster, although he says: "I thought I'd be tired, but I felt good afterwards, and the fall and the pull-up meant I didn't complete those races. It's all thanks to my dad and my brother Mickey, who trains seven or eight pointers, that I got the chance – mum [Karen] wouldn't have let me ride them!"