Wheel of fortune has come full circle for steadfast Russell

When Michael O’Leary gave Davy Russell the bullet, on New Years’ Eve 2013, one might have expected the rider to pull out his pipe, put on the slippers and take his place among the majority of jockeys, the journeymen, writes Pat Keane.

But that was to prove miles wide of the mark and when Russell gets up this morning, on his way to Gowran Park, he might allow himself a little smile of satisfaction, as he ponders the fact he is long odds-on to be champion jockey for a third time.

That much-publicised New Year’s Eve was at Punchestown. At that stage Russell was some six years into the job as the retained rider for O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud, and was asked to go for a cup of tea by the Ryanair maestro.