HHO advent calendar 2005: 22 December

Saleen Golam

Apprentice jockey Saleem Golam, 22, ended the flat season as the joint 2005 champion apprentice jockey with Haley Turner, after a nail-biting final few weeks of the campaign. The graduate from the British Riding School notched up an incrediable 26 winners from 221 rides and has ridden for 69 different trainers.

For Saleem Golam it has been a hard and gradual rise through the ranks over the last few years and with pain to endure along the way. A horrific fall saw the talented jockey break two vertebrae resulting in a month in hospital and nine months out of the saddle.