Born on December 5, 1988 in Bargoed in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales, David Probert rode his first winner, Mountain Pass, trained by Bernard Llewellyn, in a selling stakes race on the then Polytrack surface at Wolverhampton on December 3, 2007. A graduate from the British Racing School, he became apprenticed to Andrew Balding at Park Stables in Kingsclere, near Newbury, Berkshire and, in 2008, rode 50 winners from 458 rides at a strike rate of 11%. That was sufficient to give him a share of the apprentices’ title alongside fellow Kingsclere apprentice, and future senior champion, William Buick.
Fast forward to November 22, 2023 and Probert celebrated reaching the mileston of 1,500 career winners on Cadogan Gardens, trained by Charles Hills, in a nursery handicap back at Wolverhampton. He enjoyed his most prolific season, so far, in 2021, when he rode 169 winners, but has, in fact, ridden over 100 winners in all bar one of the last six completed seasons. At the time of writing, in 2024, so far, he has ridden 73 winners from 550 rides at a strike rate of 13%. As far as the Flat Jockeys’ Championship is concerned, 26 of those winners have come during the qualifying period, which began on May 4, 2024, and he currently lies twentieth in the table.
Probert has yet to win a race at the highest Group 1 level, but nonetheless has a hatful of Group race victories to his name at home and abroad. The first of them came aboard Highland Knight, trained by Balding, in the Oettingen-Rennen at Baden-Baden, Germany on August 30, 2012 and he won the same race again on future Sussex Stakes winner Here Comes When, again trained by Balding, on September 3, 2014. On home soil, his recent career highlights include winning the Temple Stakes, Lennox Stakes, Doncaster Cup and Royal Lodge Stakes, all Group 2 contests, all on Balding-trained horses.
