Miss Natasha Cookson(5)

Four years into race riding since starting out in 2022, Cookson is at the stage every young jockey has to grind through — building experience, ride by ride, in a sport where opportunities aren't guaranteed and winners don't come easily. For context, even established jockeys can go through lean patches; for someone still developing, 23 rides in a season represents genuine racecourse time and a growing understanding of how races unfold.

The honest truth is that a first winner hasn't arrived yet, but the rides are coming, and that matters. Plenty of jockeys who went on to have solid careers spent their early seasons in exactly this position — accumulating experience, earning the trust of trainers, and waiting for the pieces to fall into place. The clock on Natasha Cookson's career is still very much running.