Joe Colliver due in court on drink-driving charge on day of Sam Spinner ride

Joe Colliver, who returned from a spell in prison to win a Grade 1 hurdle on Sam Spinner, faces a charge of drink driving that threatens his place on the same horse at Cheltenham.

The jockey is listed to appear at Harrogate Magistrates Court next Thursday, the same day he is due to ride the seven-year-old in the Sun Racing Stayers' Hurdle.

His partnership with Sam Spinner and his own rehabilitation received widespread media coverage in the build up to last year's Cheltenham Festival.

Colliver, 27, served three months of a ten-month prison sentence in 2016 and had to wear an electronic tag on his release.

He has been charged with 'Driving a motor vehicle after consuming so much alcohol to exceed the prescribed limit' section 5(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988.

However, it is believed that he will attempt to get the court date changed, so he can still ride at Cheltenham.

Colliver's main employer, Middleham-based Micky Hammond, whose support did so much to help the jockey's return to race-riding after his imprisonment, said: "This is a real shame. Joe has been riding so well this season and things looked to be going well for him."

When Colliver was charged for drink driving after crashing his car on Christmas night in 2015 he got a friend to lie and claim he had been behind the wheel. Mobile phone evidence and bloodstains found in the car disproved the story and the pair pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He bounced back from what he described as 'a silly mistake' to win the Grade 3 Stayers Handicap Hurdle at Haydock and Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on the Jedd O’Keeffe-trained Sam Spinner last season.

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