Esspeegee completes four-timer as Cooley seeks apprentice switch

Jockey Jess Cooley notched her first success of the year in the 1m4½f amateur riders’ handicap as she steered Esspeegee to his fourth win on the spin for owners The Skills People Group.

Cooley, who turned 21 on Sunday, is hoping to gain her apprentice licence after a course in July, and kept a cool head that will help her riding in the future when plans went out of the window early on.

She said: “The race didn’t really go to plan with the two horses in front going off so fast. My instructions were to sit in the first three but I kept calm and knew they’d come back to me. He’s done it easy enough in the end and everyone was really pleased.”