Racing's fickle finger of fate has ultimately proved far from kind to popular Irish-born jockey Noel Fehily who has now been told that the injured wrist he sustained in a fall at Newbury in November will not heal in time for the Cheltenham Festival, and indeed may result in him being out for the rest of the season, writes Elliot Slater.
Fehily, stable jockey to Charlie Mann, was the rider that champion trainer Paul Nicholls turned to when his stable jockey Ruby Walsh took a crushing fall and sustained a broken leg at Down Royal at the start of November. Walsh remains on the sidelines, but is expected to return to race riding in mid-February.
Having been offered such a golden opportunity Fehily soon showed that given the right material he is possibly as good a rider as there is anywhere in the British Isles at present. Showing a fine mixture of judgement and strength, he booted home a string of winners for Nicholls, most memorably partnering the rejuvenated Master Minded to an impressive victory in the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase. That win came during a brief spell when Fehily returned to ride having suffered damage to his wrist some weeks earlier when falling from Nicholls' Rivaliste at Newbury.
Maybe if he had stayed on the sidelines a little longer and given his wrist more chance to recover, the damage sustained in the Newbury fall would not have been so nad, but in truth, it's impossible to know. What is for sure is that Fehily, (during his all too brief spell as main rider to the Nicholls yard), showed that he has got what it takes to be up there with the cream of the crop. Those who bet on horse racing will be wishing him a speedy recovery.
When he does return to full fitness, it is to be hoped that National Hunt trainers and owners don't forget that here is a man well capable of getting the best out of a horse whether its over hurdles or fences.
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