Hanagan leaves it late to restore lead to two

Richard Fahey's stable jockey has 11 scheduled rides at today's Southwell and Wolverhampton today.

His great rival Richard Hughes, however, only has three rides at the latter venue, presenting Hanagan, 30, with an opportunity to extend his lead ahead of tomorrow's finale at Doncaster where the two jockeys will go head-to-head in seven races.

Hughes, who is also seeking a first title, had been expected to sit out tomorrow's meetings because jockeys can only ride at nine fixtures each week on health grounds.

However, the Irishman was allowed to pick up some spare rides – 24 hours after declarations closed – because he had to forego his mounts at Kempton on Wednesday when his helicopter was grounded by inclement weather.

Both pretenders were back at Kempton last night where Hughes rode a quick double to cut Hanagan's lead to one winner, the closest the contest has ever been this season, before the Yorkshire rider won the finale with a well-timed run aboard Iron Condor to increase his advantage back to two.

It is unlikely that Hanagan will secure the title today; the best he can hope for is two or three winners that will require a super-human effort on the part of Hughes tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Doncaster Racecourse is expecting a bumper crowd tomorrow as Hanagan bids to become only the second Yorkshire-based jockey to win the title in the past 100 years.

It is fitting that the Town Moor track should stage the season's denouement; Hanagan won the very first race of the season at the track back in March when Irish heartbeat won a photo-finish and signalled the 30-year-old's determination to become No 1.

A 40-1 outsider at the start of the season, bookmakers recently paid out to those punters who backed Hanagan to become champion when his lead stretched to 22 winners.

But that was before Hughes, six inches taller than Hanagan and living off a diet amounting to little more than fresh air and tobacco, launched what has become a spirited comeback.

His cause has also been helped by the recent preponderance of racing in the South, particularly on those all-weather tracks which have witnessed so much frenetic action as Hanagan and Hughes eclipsed the 2007 title battle between Jamie Spencer and Seb Sanders that ended in a dead-heat.