'It's been a long journey' - emotions high on Kieran Shoemark's biggest day

It is usually the old-timers they come out of the weighing room to welcome back after big-race success but there was not a jockey left in the changing room as 25-year-old Kieran Shoemark returned triumphant on Lady Bowthorpe after a tear-jerking Qatar Nassau Stakes.

Shoemark has been on a remarkable personal journey but many of his colleagues have helped him along the way and there was genuine delight that it was him rather than any of them who had reached the Group 1 summit for the very first time.

Three years ago drug and alcohol addiction had trapped Shoemark in a dark world. So overbearing had his addiction become, he described it as a "huge relief" when he finally tested positive for cocaine and was handed a six-month riding ban at the end of November 2018.