Noel Fehily foaled mare in the early hours on day of final ride

Recently retired rider Noel Fehily had double cause for celebration the day he rode Get In The Queue to win the Listed Goffs UK Spring Sale Bumper on his final ride at Newbury in March, after he and wife Natasha foaled down Little Acorn in the early hours of the morning.

"Little Acorn started foaling at about 3 o'clock," said Fehily, who rode the mare to victory in a mares' maiden hurdle on her final start at Kempton in May 2017.

"My wife Natasha and I had been watching her and then she started foaling at around half three, so we both helped deliver her foal."

The new arrival - whose birthdate will certainly be easy for Fehily to remember - is by Getaway out of Little Acorn, a daughter of David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle heroine Whiteoak.

"Hopefully Little Acorn can pass on some of her bloodlines to her first foal," said Fehily, who looks after Little Acorn for owner Andy Measham.

Fehily regularly rode for Measham in recent years, including the four-time hurdle winner Dashing Oscar and Vivant Poeme, who like Little Acorn were trained by Harry Fry.

The Fehilys, who are based near Bath racecourse, maintain a band of six to eight broodmares, with the oldest youngstock destined for the store sales this year.

Among the mares is Lolli, a daughter of High Chaparral in foal to Flemensfirth, and she too was ridden to victory by Fehily in a mares' maiden hurdle on her final start, in her case at Worcester.

"I enjoy buying youngsters, selling them on and breeding a few," said Fehily. "I wouldn't say I'd go solely into that sort of thing but it's nice to be a part of. I just do a little bit as it's something I'm interested in."

If you enjoyed this, you should also read:

Aintree Sale record smashed as Jonjo O'Neill secures £440,000 pointer