Saleem Golam (born

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

) is a former

flat racing Horse racing is an equestrianism, equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all spor ...

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

, who was joint

British flat racing Champion Apprentice The flat racing Champion Jockey and Champion Apprentice titles are awarded annually to the jockey(s) and apprentice(s) respectively that have ridden the most winners (both turf and all-weather) in Great Britain during a set period or championship ...

in 2005 along with

Hayley Turner Hayley Turner (born 3 January 1983) is a retired England, English jockey who competed in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she was based in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket for much of her career. In 2008 Turner became the first woman to ...

. They won 44 races each. His biggest race victories were the 2007 Epsom Dash and 2008

Portland Handicap The Portland Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 5 furlongs and 143 yards (1,137 metres), an ...

on Hogmaneigh for Stuart Williams. However, in general, he struggled for opportunities once his apprentice claim had gone and was forced to seek opportunities abroad. His final British winner was Robbie Roo in a Class 6 handicap at

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

on 27 September 2016 and his final runner, the 33/1 Sonnet Rose at

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

on 5 October 2017, which finished 13th of 15. He finished his career in

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and had his final ride there on Giuseppe Garibaldi on 10 January 2019. He had ridden just under 400 winners, with his best season being his Apprentice Championship winning season of 2005. After that, he enrolled on a barbering course, graduating in August 2020. Of his racing career, he said, "I have zero regrets. Things haven’t been going my way for a good number of years but when you enjoy doing something you will explore every avenue and knock on every door – horses have taken me to 17 different countries and I’ve had a lot of fun.” He added that he could "be happy as a journeyman jockey, getting a couple of rides a day and a winner a week. But when even that becomes unrealistic and it’s one ride every four or five days and a winner every two months the excitement and the positivity is taken away and it can get quite stressful.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golam, Saleem Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British Champion apprentice jockeys 21st-century Mauritian people Jockeys

See also

References