LOOK HOO'S TRYING TO GO ONE BETTER

After coming close in 2022, low-key jockey Probert gets another shot at Epsom Derby

- Michael Lee

It has been three years to the day, and David Probert has hardly gone through a day without reliving the bittersweet moment of "the one that got away" in UK's most famous flat race, the Epsom Derby.

On June 4, 2022, the Welsh jockey felt the adrenaline rush kicking shortly after Tattenham Corner when he began weaving a passage on his 150-1 mount Hoo Ya Mal for his former master Andrew Balding.

But, when he saw daylight at the 500m, he knew deep down he would have to settle for second-best. The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Desert Crown (Richard Kingscote) was in full flight and beyond catching.

Hoo Ya Mal still ran out of his skin, clipping down the deficit on the winner to 2½ lengths, while holding off a late charge from Westover to win the battle for the minors by a head.

Probert, 34, has since not sat on a Derby contender again, leaving it to fate to gift him with a second chance to go one better one day, so he can realise his boyhood dream.

As fate would have it, Hoo Ya Mal's owner, Ahmad Al Shaikh has turned dream-maker for the 1,600-odd race-winning jockey again.