He's The First Noel — Again!

Ben Morgan sees another masterclass in the saddle from Fehily.

After a couple of difficult months where I felt very hard done by in many respects, I was hoping for a solid couple of weeks with plenty of winners so I could go into the Cheltenham Festival high on confidence. Unfortunately, this part of the season isn’t the best time to go out hunting for big winners due to the main event being so close, which therefore leads to some uncompetitive action.

My month started the same way the last one ended, with me waxing lyrical about Noel Fehily. This time he was on board Tom Lacey’s much improved Brandon Hill at Newbury. The horse has obviously had his fair share of problems in his career since coming from Ireland which has limited him to only a few runs in this country, giving him a thoroughly unexposed profile. After racking up a couple of wins since returning from his layoff, there was a slight doubt whether or not the handicapper had got to him but with Fehily booked to ride I presumed connections thought there was at least one more victory in him so I placed £10 on the nose.

He bounded out to the front and soon was taking the field along at a good pace, a tactic which I don’t always condone but as the jockey was in such good form I presumed he was right to do so. His dead eye fencing was gaining him ground on his rivals and turning for home Brandon Hill had a lot of his competitors at it. As readers will know, the long home straight at Newbury seems even longer when you are on the one in front and I kept thinking one is going to come from the back but as expected Noel Fehily had timed the race to perfection and just had enough to hold off the late charge from Potters Corner.

Long live Noel Fehily.