Doyle set for No1 spot
The Newmarket rumour mill has been working overtime and Paul Hanagan could be on his way out the door after recent rides leaving the door open for James Doyle
PAUL HANAGAN is set to be replaced by James Doyle as No1 jockey to the powerful Hamdan Al Maktoum operation.
The Newmarket rumour mill was working overtime yesterday and there was no silencing the whispers that Hanagan will lose his role at the end of the season.
In a game of top jockeys' musical chairs Doyle is now a free agent after being told he was no longer the automatic first-choice rider for Saeed Bin Suroor's Godolphin team.
The irony is that Doyle will leave Sheikh Mohammed's Boys In Blue to work for brother and rival Hamdan instead.
Champion jockey in 2010 and 2011, Hanagan won the 2014 Oaks on Taghrooda to give Hamdan his first Classic winner for five years.
However I understand connections were not happy with the ride Hanagan gave John Gosden's Maktoum-owned Muntahaa in the St Leger.
And they were even less pleased with his recent effort on Roger Varian's 11-8 favourite Laqab who was expected to win on debut at Chelmsford but was pipped by three-quarters of a length.
An impeccable source within the operation told me: "That was the last straw."
If Hanagan is on the way out, Hamdan's racing manager Angus Gold refused to confirm it. He told me: "It's all news to me. I haven't heard anything."
