U-turn leaves Fehily poised for Cheltenham

Noel Fehily looks to have earned a late reprieve to ride at Cheltenham's big two-day meeting which gets under way on Friday.

Fehily suffered a wrist injury when falling at last month's Hennessy Gold Cup meeting at Newbury, but had hoped to return to action at Prestbury Park.

Fehily had been schooling at Paul Nicholls' yard on Thursday morning and was shocked when initially told by British Horseracing Authority chief medical advisor Dr Michael Turner he would not be able to ride at the weekend.

That news meant he would miss the mount on Master Minded in Saturday's Keith Prowse Hospitality Tingle Creek Chase, for which Tony McCoy was subsequently booked, as well as Silviniaco Conti in the StanJames.com International Hurdle.

However, BHA head of communications Paul Struthers said this evening: "Dr Turner spoke to Noel Fehily's specialist this morning, who confirmed that Noel would be able to resume riding but only whilst wearing a protective case.

"This is not compliant with our published Medical Standards for Fitness to Ride and Noel was therefore informed that, unfortunately, he could not be cleared to ride.

"Having discussed the matter further with the PJA and with Noel, Dr Turner arranged for him to see a second specialist this afternoon. That specialist's view was that if the wrist was properly strapped it would be fine and would not negatively impact on Noel's control of a horse.

"Following that news, Dr Turner spoke to Noel's original specialist, and they agreed this to be a suitable course of action which would ensure Noel was compliant with our Medical Standards.

"As Dr Turner has not examined Noel himself, Noel will still have to be cleared by the Racecourse Medical Officer in order to have his Red Entry removed and to satisfy the requirements of the Professional Riders' Insurance Scheme (PRIS).

"Assuming that's fine, he'll be clear to ride."