Sam hoping for National chance (From Free Press Series)

Sam hoping for National chance

IT was a hard day in the saddle for Abergavenny-born jockey Sam Thomas last weekend as he failed to ride a winner on his return to Chepstow Racecourse.

In five races, the 19-year-old rising star galloped to second place twice on horses Meggie's Lad and Imaginaire.

The weekend's results were a disappointment to Sam who, only the weekend before, had ridden Limerick Boy to triumph in the £50,000 Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton.

Thomas is now contemplating his first rides at the prestigious National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham next month and hopefully in the world's greatest steeplechase, the Grand National, at Aintree in April.

Less than six months ago he was an unknown amateur jockey, and Sam admits: "It's all happened so fast that I still have to pinch myself."

The former King Henry VIII Comprehensive School pupil is ever optimistic.

"If somebody had told me at the start of the season things would go this well I would not have believed it," he said.

Thomas is not from a racing background and explained: "When I had a pony from the age of six I always used to watch racing on TV and then I'd pretend to be a jockey over the field.

"As for the Grand National, there may be a chance of an outside ride, that's a race I definitely want to win one day. It will be tough, but maybe in five or six years, who knows," he said.