Cheltenham Festival: Special moment for jockey Noel Fehily as Douvan misses out

The most naturally-gifted of horsemen, he simply could not buy a winner – invariably because serious injury had left him on the sidelines when big race rides were available.

Yet, in his 42nd year, the weighing room’s elder statesman is making up for lost time and rapidly rectifying his previously modest Festival record.

His heart-stopping Queen Mother Champion Chase success on the perennial Cheltenham bridesmaid Special Tiara came 24 hours after Fehily had won the Champion Hurdle on Buveur D’Air after replacing the injured Barry Geraghty.

He’s not finished – Geraghty’s absence means Fehily rides the JP McManus-owned Unowhatimeanharry who has won all eight starts this season and is hot favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle, the National Hunt Festival’s day-three highlight.

How times change. For, while Buveur D’Air and Special Tiara were just Fehily’s fourth and fifth Festival triumphs, Ruby Walsh – the winning-most rider in Cheltenham history – continues to endure a wretched week.

Still winnerless, Douvan – unbeaten in his last 13 starts – was one of the biggest certainties in Cheltenham history when the tapes went up for the Champion Chase.

Yet, while Fehily set a searching pace on Special Tiara who has been sixth, and third on two occasions, at the Festival previously, Douvan’s jumping was erratic – he was reaching for his fences and started breasting his obstacles – and was already out of contention as the pacesetter turned for home.

Clear over the last two fences, Special Tiara – trained in Ireland by Henry de Bromhead – had to dig deep as Colin Tizzard’s fast-finishing Fox Norton, owned by Barnsley-born Alan Potts and his wife Ann, cut into the lead with every stride as the finishing post neared.

The winning margin of a head was just sufficient for Fehily to complete a long-overdue, and much-deserved, double.

“Unbelievable, he’s everything a two-mile chaser should be,” he said. “I didn’t think we’d beat Douvan, but I thought I had a great chance of being second. I got over the last and was surprised something hadn’t come to me, but I knew he wasn’t stopping. He has one way of running and that’s flat to the mat and jump – I just let him get on with it. I’ve always loved two-mile chasers, the Champion Chase is the one you want to win.”

De Bromhead was winning the two-mile crown for the second time following the victory of the popular Potts-owned Sizing Europe in 2011. He said: “It’s an amazing day. He seemed in great form coming into it, but it was hard to believe we could win with Douvan and everything else – Douvan had looked so good. For our lad, he just tries his heart out and no-one deserves it more.”

Owned by the ever enthusiastic Sally Rowley-Williams, there had been talk of Special Tiara going for today’s Ryanair Chase over the longer trip of two and a half miles.

“Glad you didn’t go for the Ryanair now?” De Bromhead asked of his jockey who clearly favoured the Ryanair route.

Fehily’s reply? “I’m glad you didn’t listen to me on that one!”

Understandably the celebrations were overshadowed by Douvan’s desperately disappointing run that was illustrated by Walsh’s perplexed look as the horse returned to the unsaddling enclosure after finishing a remote seventh.

“I’m assuming something happened when he put in those huge jumps, which I’ve never seen him do before. I imagine I’ll find a physical problem with him,” said trainer Willie Mullins who did not hide his own disappointment following a chastening season that could see him replaced as Ireland’s champion trainer by the seemingly unstoppable Gordon Elliott.

Like Mullins and Walsh who are still without a winner, Britain’s champion trainer Paul Nicholls is also having a barren week and was overtaken by his great rival Nicky Henderson in this season’s trainers’ championship when stablemates Might Bite and Whisper fought out a thrilling finish to the RSA Chase, the three mile race for Gold Cup contenders of the future.

Might Bite, who had come to grief at the final fence at Kempton on Boxing Day, had, once again, built up a seemingly unassailable lead under Nico de Boinville.

In a breathtaking performance that had echoes of the brilliant Denman, the eight-year-old was a little untidy at the final fence and soon after hung violently to his right, virtually stopping to a walk in scenes reminiscent of the vanquished Crisp in the 1973 Grand National.

He looked to have gifted his more patiently-ridden stable companion Whisper certain victory, but, with the aid of a loose horse galloping towards the line, De Boinville somehow managed to coax a late rally out of the quirky Might Bite and the pair flashed by the post almost as one.

After a brief wait, the judge confirmed the market leader had got back up by a nose, much to the delight of the packed grandstands.

De Boinville said: “Without the loose horse I wouldn’t have won. He’s a thinker but he’s so talented, he jumped for fun – he should have won five or 10 lengths.”

Next year’s Gold Cup is a tantalising target.

Supasundae, trained in Ireland by Jessica Harrington, took the Coral Cup for Barnsley-born Alan Potts and his wife Ann whose Fox Norton won so bravely in the Champion Chase.

Nietzsche, trained by Malton’s Brian Ellison and ridden by in-form Danny Cook, was a far from disgraced third to Flying Tiger in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle – this is a Yorkshire horse to follow.

“To be honest, I thought he was the winner at the last. It is a very hard juvenile to win so I am happy,” said the trainer.

Meanwhile, £2,000 bargain buy Irish Roe, trained by Northallerton pig farmer Peter Atkinson and the mount of Henry Brooke, could only manage to beat one home in the Champion Bumper won by Fayonagh – just getting to Cheltenham was an achievement in itself.

Fayonagh was a fifth winner of the week for the aforementioned Elliott who had earlier won the cross country race with Cause Of Causes, both winners coming courtesy of top amateur rider Jamie Codd.

However this will be remembered as Noel Fehily’s day.