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'As soon as Christmas dinner was over my mind would be on Boxing Day and Silviniaco Conti at Kempton'
Noel Fehily talks to Andrew Dietz about his past King George glories and present syndicate success

Christmas is Noel Fehily's time of year. Named after the fact he was born on Christmas Eve, he was synonymous with the ultimate festive highlight, the King George VI Chase, during his stellar career in the saddle
Fehily retired in 2019 as Britain's eighth most prolific jump jockey of all time with 1,352 winners and two of those victories still hold a special place in his heart.
In the warmth of his farmhouse kitchen just days before his 49th birthday, he remembers the ghosts of Christmas past fondly, having won Boxing Day's King George on Silviniaco Conti in 2013 and 2014.
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- ‘I’ve never had to deal with that in my career and I did find it hard - you start asking yourself what you’re doing wrong’
- ‘I’ll be there to see the kids open their presents but then it’s a coffee, bang, out the door’ - life in a racing yard at Christmas
- ‘I miss the craic of going racing but it’s a young person’s game these days - and I don’t know how they survive, to be honest’
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
- 'I don't even know what day of the week it is - I'd love a day off but racing is so relentless that you can't do it'
- ‘I’ve never had to deal with that in my career and I did find it hard - you start asking yourself what you’re doing wrong’
- ‘I’ll be there to see the kids open their presents but then it’s a coffee, bang, out the door’ - life in a racing yard at Christmas
- ‘I miss the craic of going racing but it’s a young person’s game these days - and I don’t know how they survive, to be honest’
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
- 'I don't even know what day of the week it is - I'd love a day off but racing is so relentless that you can't do it'
