Noel Fehily will ride favourite Might Bite in Saturday's Betfair Chase if regular partner Nico de Boinville fails to recover from injury in time.
Nicky Henderson's stable jockey hurt a thumb in a fall at Chepstow and expects to find out in midweek if he will be available to ride last year's 32Red King George and Betway Bowl hero at Haydock, where he faces a rematch with his Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup conqueror Native River.
The Seven Barrows trainer said in his Unibet blog: "We entered Might Bite for the Betfair Chase at Haydock on Saturday and hope that Nico de Boinville will be fit to ride, but in the event that he is not passed fit by the doctor, we have taken the provisional measure and booked Noel Fehily to take the reins if necessary.
"Nico is going to be assessed on Wednesday so we won't know until then at the very earliest and Jerry McGrath will be on duty for us at Ascot. Noel came and schooled Might Bite on our new carpet schooling ground this (Monday) morning and was very pleased. His exact words were, 'That was a very nice way to start the week!'.
"I've never seen him jump so well and, barring mishap, the intention is very much to run."
Might Bite is currently Sky Bet''s even-money favourite for the Betfair Chase with Native River 11/4 and Bristol De Mai 11/2.
