Cheltenham Festival 2018: Joe Colliver seeks redemption in the Stayers Hurdle

Joe Colliver riding Sam Spinner (right) to victory in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December

Everyone, it is said, deserves a second chance, and sport is adept at providing the opportunity for such redemption after misdemeanours, even those resulting in jail terms.

Think former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams, imprisoned for drink-driving, or the great Flat jockey Lester Piggott, who was found guilty of tax fraud.

Jockey Joe Colliver is intent on something similar being the case as he prepares to partner the Jedd O'Keeffe-trained Sam Spinner in the Stayers Hurdle on 15 March, one of the features of the Cheltenham Festival.

Colliver, 26, doesn't have to spin his story. Nor does O'Keeffe, as we shall find out.

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At Christmas 2015, after a boozy night out, Colliver crashed his car outside the Middleham racing centre in North Yorkshire where he's based, fled the scene and paid a friend £2,500 to take the rap.

Police suspicions were soon aroused, and the jockey, one of the up-and-coming riders on jump racing's northern circuit at the time, later found himself at Teesside Crown Court accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

His career in the saddle seemed in the balance, at best, when a guilty plea led to a 10-month sentence in HM Prison Holme House at Stockton-on-Tees.

After serving three months, he was released into an uncertain future, with an electronic surveillance tag for company.

However, Sheffield-born Colliver's subsequent efforts to rebuild his life have been rewarded with three successes on Spinning Sam - notably in Ascot's Grade One Long Walk Hurdle at Christmas - that have propelled the pair to centre-stage.

"I'm deeply remorseful for what I've done," he told BBC Sport. "I couldn't be anymore thankful to everybody that's stuck by me.

"Without them, particularly Jedd and his wife Andrea, and other friends and family, I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

"The boss [trainer] Micky Hammond, who I joined at 17, said he'd keep my job open for me, but in terms of being a jockey I thought I was over and done with.

Colliver also steered Sam Spinner to victory in the Betfair Stayers' Handicap Hurdle at Haydock in November

"There's no way of hiding it: who wants a criminal, especially with a prison conviction as well? So, I thought that was it; I'm very lucky the way everything has worked out."

Colliver was permitted to resume race-riding early in 2017, and soon afterwards received the call-up for Sam Spinner, a horse he'd ridden previously, when the regular jockey was injured.

Since then, they haven't looked back; as well as disputing Stayers Hurdle favouritism, and being major standard-bearers for jumping's northern circuit at the biggest fixture of the season, no less a figure than top jockey Ruby Walsh has tipped Sam Spinner as his 'nap' selection for the week.

The contrast from those dark days of 2016 is not lost on Colliver.

"Of course, this is big for me. I feel very lucky," he said.

"I'm just a mediocre jockey going to Cheltenham for only my fourth ride down there, and it's got half a chance - it doesn't seem real.

"It would be great to go there and repay everyone."

And Colliver is not the only one in this tale with a back-story.

O'Keeffe bought Sam Spinner for £12,600 as a three-year-old

Jedd O'Keeffe, trainer of Sam Spinner alongside 50 other mainly Flat racing horses, has faced his own obstacles.

Diagnosed with cancer in his throat and neck in 2011, he endured months of painful treatment before financial pressures nearly forced him to quit training.

Appropriately, it was a decision by Paul and Caron Chapman, owners of Sam Spinner, to up their investment in his stables at Middleham that led to a re-think. The horse was a 12,000 guineas - £12,600 - purchase from Doncaster Sales.

"It does feel a little bit like we're dreaming," said O'Keeffe who also has American Craftsman entered in the Festival's Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.

"It is a good story, but I keep on saying, and it's correct, that we're very lucky to have Sam.

"I never imagined he'd be a Grade One horse, but I always thought he had qualities in terms of temperament and athleticism to be at worst an above average handicapper.

"What's happening is why people work in this industry and invest in it. It's unbelievable."

The Sunbets Stayers Hurdle is the feature on day three of the Cheltenham Festival, March 13-16; coverage on BBC Radio 5 live