More than seven years after he rode his first winner on Eyren in a Doncaster bumper, he will pick up his trophy as top young rider at Sandown’s Bet365 Jump Finale.
It’s an accolade that has been earned through dedication, hard graft and no shortage of talent.
Tristan joined Dan Skelton’s powerful Warwickshire stables straight from school as a 15-year-old with an ambition to become a jumps jockey.
After progressing through pony racing and point-to-points, he is now the yard’s number two rider behind Skelton’s younger brother Harry.
It’s quite fitting that the 24-year-old will follow the likes of Sean Bowen, Harry Cobden and last year’s winner Freddie Gingell on to the roll of honour in the same season his boss picks up his first Champion Trainer’s title.
Tristan has become an integral part of Skelton’s domination. As the quality and quantity of the trainer’s team increases, there have been plenty of opportunities for the young rider.
He has grabbed those with both hands.
Tristan guided top mare Panic Attack to Coral Gold Cup glory at Newbury in November and he capped a superb season when partnering Mirabad to a surprise victory in the Hallgarten & Novum Wines Maghull Novices‘ Chase at Aintree’s Grand National meeting.
It was a first Grade 1 victory for Tristan and confirmation that he is at home on jump racing’s biggest stage.
The signs that he could be capable of joining the ranks of the established jockeys have been evident for several years.
After riding his first winner on just his second ride, he had to wait the best part of two years to add to his tally.
Since then it’s been a case of steady progress with double-figure hauls in each of the last four years.
His biggest winner before this season came when landing Kempton’s Lanzarote Hurdle on Jay Jay Reilly a couple of years ago.
He celebrated that significant victory by heading to Ampton point-to-point in Suffolk the following day to cheer on his dad, Ben, who had two rides. Unfortunately, the farmer could not complete a family double as he finished out of the frame in both races.
There is also plenty of racing connections on his mum Samantha’s side of the family. His maternal grandfather, Ian Cox, was an assistant to four-times Champion Flat trainer Dick Hern.
It’s another Champion Trainer who has powered Tristan to his prestigious title.
Incredibly, he has only ridden one winner for anyone bar Skelton in his charge towards becoming Champion Conditional. That was his very first success of the season way back last May when steering Saint Bibiana to victory at Huntingdon for Georgie Nicholls.
More than 45 winners have been added to his tally since as he hunted down long-time leader Freddie Gordon in the title race.
He had drawn level with his rival when Freddie – son of Hampshire trainer Chris – broke his collar bone in a fall at Fontwell in late March.
A Newton Abbot double just a few days later virtually sealed the deal and a first Grade 1 victory at Aintree put the cherry on top of a rather impressive season.
With the backing of British jump racing’s current powerhouse, we are likely to be hearing an awful lot more from Tristan in the coming years.
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