A TEENAGER who was kicked out of from school but is now on course to become a jockey is starring in a new Channel 4 documentary.

Tyler Stafford was expelled from Spennymoor Comprehensive School aged 14 for fighting and messing about.

But the youngster won a place at the Northern Racing College at Doncaster where a film crew was following 20 students through the foundation course.

Jockey Club, which will be aired on Thursday at 10pm, shows how the youngsters cope with the boot camp regime which includes early-morning starts, strict discipline, and a no-nonsense approach from the instructors.

Tyler, now 16, successfully graduated and four months ago landed a job with Herefordshire trainer Venetia Williams for whom he rides out and looks after Last Shot - a possible runner at Aintree on Thursday - and Tuskar Rock.

Tyler, who comes from a traveller background, grew up around around horses, but had not ridden one with a saddle until he went to college.

He said: "I was expelled from school for fighting and messing about, but becoming a jockey has always been my ambition and I am loving it.

"If I hadn't been given the chance to go on the course I don't know what I'd be doing now.

“I just wanted to make something of my life and I didn’t want to go on the dole. I thought I would try it – it wasn’t easy, but you just had to get through it.”

Jockey School is being aired in the run up to the Grand National on Saturday.

The college’s chief executive Dawn Goodfellow said: "We are all very much looking forward to the screening of Jockey School which gives us the opportunity to show off the fantastic opportunities that the college opens for young people of all backgrounds in one of the world's most exciting industries."

Mrs Goodfellow denied the show was an equine equivalent of controversial fly-on-the wall documentary Benefits Street.

“We do take a significant number of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and what they did with the programme, and they filmed the whole course, was pick out three people for whom it was a life-changing experience,” she added.