Mark Coumbe

Mark Coumbe was born in Devon on April 23, 1983 but his family moved to Epsom when he was a young schoolboy. Mark was introduced to riding ponies as a teenager and quickly found an appetite for racing, which led to him riding out at weekends and in school holidays before joining the local trainer Simon Dow. 

He was a successful apprentice but, on July 30, 2008, he suffered a broken back when catapulted from Towy Girl during a race at Kempton Park. He broke four vertebrae including his T10 vertebrae which, had it broken another way, would have left him paralysed for life. He spent two weeks in hospital and was out of action for eight months.

The injury disrupted his riding career and he struggled for rides thereafter. He rode just two winners during the 2009 Flat turf season and four the following season. He was on the verge of quitting the saddle at the start of 2011 when thrown a lifeline by Epsom trainer Michael Attwater. He began riding out for him in an attempt to revive his career. That led to him posting a double figure score for the 2011 Flat turf season and also a ride in that year’s Derby. 

The horse was Castlemorris King, who was making his debut for Attwater. He’d previously finished fifth in a Warwick handicap and went into the Derby with a Timeform rating of 71, effectively meaning he would be doing well to finish within a furlong of the winner. But Mark didn’t care about such statistics. He was achieving a dream of riding in the nation’s most famous Flat race, even if he was on a 150-1 outsider. They ended up finishing twelfth of the thirteen runners, beating Jamie Spencer’s mount Marhaba Malyoon. 

Mark recorded eight wins in the 2012 Flat turf season and a dozen in 2013. He was soon off the mark for 2014, winning twice on Caspian Prince at Kempton and Wolverhampton within the first two weeks of January. Caspian Prince was the fastest horse Mark rode during his career; he went on to win the Epsom Dash three times, in 2014, 2016 and 2017. 

Sadly, Mark was not aboard for any of those three Epsom triumphs. He rode what was to be his last winner on Ace Master for trainer Roy Bowring in a class 5 handicap at Southwell on January 20, 2014. 

Three days later, back at Southwell, he was badly injured when his mount, the Roger Ingram-trained Gebayl, broke a blood vessel and lost her action, swerved violently to her left early in the straight and fell heavily, bringing down the William Carson-ridden Roxy Lane in the process. Mark was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham with back and pelvic injuries. 

The injury forced the 3lb claimer into a premature retirement. However, he was still able to ride out and became a regular work rider work for trainer Graeme McPherson. He also takes horses racing, and is a firm favourite with the owners.