Neeraj Rawal became the first jockey from India in recent times to ride a winner in the UK, steering home the three-year-old Mark Johnston-trained filly Jilly Cooper at Lingfield Park today.

In fact Jilly Cooper was no ‘steering job`; her starting price was 6-1 and she trounced the short-priced favourite into second place in the seven furlong handicap on Lingfield`s artificial surface.

Neeraj brought the filly from last place with a finely timed run to swamp his field. He had perhaps gone a shade soon when the combination were third at Haydock last month but trainer Mark Johnston retained faith and was amply rewarded.

“Neeraj contacted me out of the blue,” said Johnston, the most prolific trainer of winners in the country, “And he deserves his success. He`s a hard worker and has impeccable manners.”

Indian turf fans will be familiar with Neeraj of course. He won the 2017 Invitation Cup in Bangalore on Temerity for his boss, one of the grand old men of Indian racing, Shyam Ruia.

Temerity was trainer Pesi Shroff`s first ‘Invitation`.

Neeraj, 34, would have been the jockey most familiar with the blinding heat currently roasting the British Isles but he kept his cool through post-race television interviews.

“Yes, I`m emotional,” he told me. “It`s so hard to get rides over here and Mr Johnston has been so generous allowing me to improve my riding and pursue my dreams. I sent him my cv and his immediate reaction was for me to venture over and see what came of things.”

He went on: “I want to thank my owners, Mr Ruia especially for giving me the opportunity to stretch my wings. I will be back home next month in good time for Pune.”

Before then, this Wednesday to be precise, Neeraj has another ride for Mark Johnston and in the same Middleham Park blue colours, on Gangway at Wolverhampton.

History could well repeat itself – just as Neeraj was third previously on Jilly Cooper, he occupied the same place on three-year-old Gangway last month at Redcar.