Relieved Brooke in select company

The 21-year-old Yorkshire rider secured the prestigious title for up-and-coming riders, after fending off the late charge of Lucy Alexander.

His 42 winners left him four clear of Alexander who, in turn, was one winner shy of Nina Carberry’s all-time record of 39 victories for a female National Hunt jockey.

While Alexander, who has forged a strong alliance with Ferdy Murphy, will hope to eclipse Carberry’s record next season, Brooke, 21, will lose his weight allowance once he has had 17 more winners.

From then on, he will be riding as an equal to AP McCoy, the 17-times champion, and the in-form Jason Maguire who is No 1 jockey at Donald McCain’s yard to which Brooke is attached.

“He’s worked very hard and is one for the future,” said Maguire.

However, Brooke, whose family live in Middleham, accepts it will not be easy – being champion conditional is not a passport, he says, to future success.

William Kennedy, the 2005-06 winner, has struggled to make the transition while the struggle against weight means Rhys Flint, the 2009-10 victor, will never fulfil his undoubted potential – the 21-year-old is now assistant trainer to Michael Scudamore.

“It’s going to be a lot tougher next season to ride as many winners because I’ll lose my claim,” said Brooke.

“I think I might struggle, but I accept that, and I’ve jut got to keep working hard and keep learning.

“A lot of people have been very good to me – my family, my sponsors SnugTop, people like Ian Todd. Donald and his family, too – it was Donald’s wife who texted me on Friday to say one more winner would seal it.”

That came hours later at Perth on Friday when the Brooke-ridden Keeneland won the opener – coincidentally, McCain’s 150th winner in the season.

The jockey then rounded off the season in style when Orlittlebylitte, another McCain runner, prevailed at Market Rasen on Saturday.

“I’m very relieved – Lucy made it every difficult in the past few weeks,” said Brooke. “It would have been gutting to lose it after being top conditional for most of the season. It’s just great to have my name on the roll of honour alongside people like AP McCoy, Richard Johnson and Sam Twiston-Davies. That means a lot.

“I’ll keep riding over the summer and see where we go but, right now, I’m tired – it’s been a long season.”

The National Hunt season ended with the Grand National-winning combination of Daryl Jacob and Paul Nicholls, triumphant with Neptune Collonges a fortnight ago, dominant at Sandown.

First, Sanctuaire won the Celebration Chase with a brilliant front-running ride – he could be a real threat to Nicky Henderson’s precocious Sprinter Sacre next season – and then Tidal Bay defied top weight, and appalling conditions, to land the three-mile five-furlong Bet365 Chase.

Formerly with Howard Johnson before the County Durham trainer was banned from the sport, this was the 11-year-old’s first victory in more than two years.

The heavy ground meant he was able to keep in touch with the pace-setters – and then his class told over the final two fences after a patient Jacob ride that was in complete contrast to Sanctuaire’s success.

Jacob was only in the saddle for these three high-profile successes because of the non-availability of Ruby Walsh, the No 1 rider at the Nicholls yard.

His challenge next season will be facing up to the level of expectation and scrutiny – many, like Sam Thomas, have struggled with the demands of being ‘super-sub’ to Walsh.

It is also clear, as Nicholls won a seventh successive trainers’ championship, that his yard was under a cloud during the Cheltenham Festival because a virus had been slow to clear. That appears to be no longer an issue.

As for Tidal Bay, Nicholls still has ambitious plans for this quirky veteran, who was good enough in his youth to win an Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham.

“Three miles has almost been a bit short for him over hurdles and fences. He ran all right behind Big Buck’s at Aintree, where I think he would have been second if he hadn’t been interfered with on the far side,” said the trainer.

“That put him right for today and when it rained it helped him because it slowed them down. He was able to jump well and do everything right. We might go to Auteuil on June 10. They have a hurdle race over three miles and three furlongs that might be perfect if the ground is really deep.”

Weather continues to play havoc with the racing calendar – yesterday’s Wetherby card was called off because of waterlogging and Towcester’s jumps fixture today has suffered the same fate.