CHAMPION apprentice jockey Tom Marquand is one of 10 nominations for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2015.

The top three, chosen by an expert panel, will be named on Blue Peter next Thursday (December 10) with the overall winner announced live on Sunday, December 20, when Belfast hosts Sports Personality of the Year 2015.

Previous winners of this award include Wayne Rooney, Tom Daley, and Andy Murray.

Tom, 17, is from Woodmancote near Cheltenham and attended Winchcombe School. He admits he learned many of the the race riding skills that took him to 54 winners and the championship in his maiden season as a member of the North Cotswold Hunt Pony Club.

In total he won nine times on the pony racing circuit.

Tom's meteoric rise coincides with his first year in a racing yard of Wiltshire-based former champion trainer Richard Hannon Jnr.

Hannon said: "There's no doubt that Tom has the ability to go all the way. He rides very well and is a pleasant lad who works hard and deserves all the success he has had these past 12 months."

The North Cotswold Hunt Pony Club has been the springboard for a number of top careers in racing including jockey Tom Scudamore and trainer James Fanshawe.

"We are incredibly proud of Tom's achievement this year, especially as until last year he was still a member and competing in our races," said a club spokeswoman.