Noel Optimistic

Noel Fehily has not given up hope of being fit to ride Kauto Star in the William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The jump jockey is to see a specialist this week and is optimistic the wrist he injured in a fall at Newbury on Friday is not as bad as first feared.

It was thought he might have suffered a break when taking a tumble from Rivaliste in a two-mile-one-furlong handicap chase. He was taken to Ridgeway Hospital in Swindon but because the wrist was badly swollen, X-rays proved inconclusive.

Fehily had only been given the call-up from trainer Paul Nicholls earlier in the week to replace the sidelined Ruby Walsh on Clive Smith's top-class chaser, who is seeking a record fifth successive win in the Christmas feature.

"It's not quite as bad as first thought, hopefully," Fehily told At The Races.

"When I was taken to hospital it wasn't very good, but I went back on Sunday morning and the doctor was a lot happier with it. Because it was so swollen at the time, they couldn't get a clear picture of it.

"I have to go back (on Tuesday) and hopefully I'll get a better prognosis then. I'm not really in pain. Since they strapped it up it's been a lot better, so I'm very hopeful it's not quite as bad as first thought. Straight away you are thinking how you can speed your recovery up.

"I'm very hopeful I'll be back to ride Kauto Star on Boxing Day. From what the specialist said on Sunday if we can keep it strapped up, keep the improvement and the swelling coming down, he's very hopeful he can have me back riding in two to three weeks which would be well before Christmas.

"At this time of year you don't want to be missing too much, but thankfully the weather is going to help me out a little bit!"

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The recent cold spell is playing havoc with the National Hunt fixture list and the three scheduled jumps meetings on Thursday are all facing inspections.

Leicester and Market Rasen are having a look at 10am on Tuesday, while Wincanton aim to hold out until 24 hours later.

Leicester clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said: "We've got two inches of snow on the track and it is frozen in places underneath. The forecast is not brilliant. We've got the chance of more snow and then the temperatures for the whole of the week don't look like they are going to go above freezing."

Market Rasen clerk Sulekha Varma said: "There's about an inch to an inch and a half of snow on the track and we are frozen in places."

Wincanton officials want to give their card every opportunity of going ahead and will assess conditions at 10am on Wednesday.

"We've got 20% of the track that is frozen and we have a light covering of snow," said clerk of the course Barry Johnson.

"There's a school of thought we should probably inspect on Tuesday and knock it on the head if it's not raceable, but if we've got any glimmer of hope we will hold on. That's why we are going for Wednesday at 10am and it will be make or break. Things have got to improve by then."

It is a similar scene in Ireland with Wednesday's meeting at Navan cancelled due to snow and a further unfavourable weather forecast. Officials at Sandown admit their two-day meeting, featuring the Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday, could be in the balance unless conditions improve dramatically.

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper told At The Races: "It's not looking great at this stage. We look like we are going to have below-freezing nights all week and Thursday night is looking particularly cold and daytime temperatures getting no higher than 1C or something like that.

"We have got frost in the ground at the moment so that has got to shift before we can really exude any optimism at all."

AP For SP?

Tony McCoy has made the final cut for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2010.

McCoy is on a shortlist of 10 for the coveted award, which will be announced at a live event at Birmingham's LG Arena on Sunday, December 19.

The 15-time champion jockey shot to the head of the betting for the accolade after winning the John Smith's Grand National at the 15th attempt aboard Don't Push It.

"From my point of view, it's a massive thing to be mentioned in the same breath as other sports stars, but I see it as a bigger honour for racing," said McCoy.

"Frankie Dettori is the biggest icon we have to offer, but if by me winning the Grand National means more people are interested in the sport, that can only be a good thing."

Ryder Cup heroes Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell also feature in the nominations.

Westwood finished runner-up in The Masters and The Open on the way to taking the world number one spot from Tiger Woods, while McDowell became Europe's first US Open champion for 40 years.

The pair were also part of Europe's victorious Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor.

Also on the shortlist are Jessica Ennis, who added the world pentathlon title and European heptathlon title to her world heptathlon title from last year, David Haye, who twice defended his world heavyweight title, most recently with a third-round stoppage of Audley Harrison, and Amy Williams, who won Britain's first individual Winter Olympics gold medal for 30 years with victory in the women's skeleton.

Mark Cavendish, won won five stages on the Tour de France, double Commonwealth diving gold medallist Tom Daley, England spinner Graeme Swann and darts great Phil Taylor complete the nominees.

Two More Off

The jumps fixtures at Southwell and Hereford on Tuesday have become the latest casualties of the cold snap.

With overnight temperatures having plummeted to minus 11C, the Southwell meeting was abandoned following an inspection on Sunday morning.

Clerk of the course Roderick Duncan said: "There was absolutely no hope, so we've called it a day already."

All is not lost at the Nottinghamshire venue, however, as a six-race Flat card on the all-weather will be formulated on the same afternoon.

Declarations to run must be made by 10am on Monday, with the first race due off at 1pm.

Duncan added: "The all-weather track is being well worked, and we're not anticipating any problems."

Hereford have called time as the track is heavily frozen. Officials saw little need to call an official inspection after overnight temperatures dropped to a shivering minus 11C.

Clerk of the course Keith Ottesen said: "We have no realistic chance of racing. Everybody knows we're in the grip of a freezing spell of weather, and will be for the foreseeable future. There is therefore little point in prevaricating an inevitability."

Ffos Las Off

Monday's jumps fixture at Ffos Las has been abandoned due to a frozen track.

Clerk of the course Tim Long made the inevitable decision upon inspecting conditions on Sunday morning, as overnight temperatures had dipped to minus 8C. There was no prospect of improvement on the horizon, so the cause was beyond hope.

Long said: "It's still minus 8C and there is frost under the covers. We are forecast a daytime high of 0C, following an overnight low of minus 6C."

He added: "There is no way the frost will come out of the ground by Monday, so it was pointless messing people around."

The remaining Monday fixtures are a jumps meeting at Folkestone, which must first survive an inspection, and an all-weather fixture at Wolverhampton.

Denman to be placed at least ...did you get the 6/1?

Paul Nicholls was noticeably moved by the Newbury crowd's appreciation of Denman after the former Gold Cup winner put up a gallant performance to finish third as he sought an unprecedented treble in the Hennessy Gold Cup.

Sent off the 4-1 favourite, Denman gave eventual winner Diamond Harry a real battle after being roared on by the crowd when he moved into contention on the back straight, and he got an ovation when he returned to be unsaddled.

"That was an outstanding run at the weights and I always thought Diamond Harry would be very hard to beat if he jumped," said Nicholls.

Peddlers...we told you to get on!

Peddlers Cross made the transition from novice company to the top table in the best possible style with a superb victory in the stanjames.com Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newbury.

Jason Maguire settled the Donald McCain-trained five-year-old in second place as Bygones Of Brid set the pace in the Grade One contest, and he took over the lead at the second-last flight.

Champion Hurdle hero Binocular threw down his challenge at the last but was soon dismissed and Peddlers Cross (9-4) was driven out to beat Starluck by a length and a quarter.

Maguire said: "He did it great, he's come up against the top league now and he's the star we thought we had.

"They've gone steady enough and I was at the front turning in. We always thought a stronger pace might be better, but that shows he's got the boot if he needs it.

"We discussed it (tactics) last night. You don't want to go too quick and shoot yourself in the foot, so I sent him on in the straight as we wanted to save a bit. I thought he picked up again after the last though.

"He was very good today, relaxed in the race, and if we can keep him in that frame of mind, that will help. I think he's definitely a Champion Hurdle horse."

McCain added: "We knew he was very good, but he was a novice last year and until you step up you don't really know.

"He's done everything we hoped. He's absolutely frightening - the speed he's got is phenomenal. I've never dealt with a horse like this, but we've got one now.

"We came here to find out if we are a championship two-miler and we are. He can only improve for Cheltenham, a bigger field and a stronger pace, but I wouldn't have a clue where we'll go next."