It’s the end of an era.
Noel Fehily bid farewell to racing with a win aboard Get In The Queue on an emotional afternoon at Newbury.
Fehily announced his intention to retire just moments after his victory at what would be his final Cheltenham festival, riding Eglantine Du Seuil to a win in the Mares’ Novice Hurdle last week.
One of the stand-out moments of the festival saw the whole weigh room gather to give the Cork jockey a guard of honour as he took to the Prestbury Park parade ring for one last time.
Fehily still had business to attend to, however, and he was heavily backed to go out on a high this weekend, with the Harry Fry-trained Get In The Queue 1/3 favourite in the Goffs UK Spring Sale Bumper.
An emotional moment as Noel Fehily heads out for his final ride #farewellfehily pic.twitter.com/4ElEKZ5E23
— Newbury Racecourse (@NewburyRacing) March 23, 2019
But there are no guaranteed in horseracing and Fehily had a race to run.
And what a race it was as Get In The Queue continued to improve into the final furlong and as is usually the case, there was no mistake from Fehily as he crossed the finish line in first place for the last time.
👏👏👏
The perfect send-off!Get In The Queue gives jockey @ndfehily a win in his final race – and that's a great moment for Noel, trainer Harry Fry and the big crowd at @NewburyRacing today pic.twitter.com/pjbrhTJZTN
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 23, 2019
There was no shortage of tearful embraces in the winner’s enclosure as Fehily’s family celebrated the cherry on the cake of an illustrious career for one of the nicest men in racing.
The scenes from the winners enclosure as Noel Fehily's family celebrate his win 🙌#FarewellFehily pic.twitter.com/lGmwZ7BIxI
— Newbury Racecourse (@NewburyRacing) March 23, 2019
