'He still calls me sir' - Stephen Fry's teacher and Fergal O'Brien's business partner awarded BEM in New Year Honours list

It may have been Sir Stephen Fry's knighthood that made the headlines but Cheltenham is set to celebrate the man who taught the "naughty little boy" English.

Chris Coley, owner, corporate hospitality pioneer, fundraiser and business partner of trainer Fergal O'Brien, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours list.

The man who has raised a huge sum for the Injured Jockeys Fund by organising jockeys' football matches and golf days was officially recognised "for services to Sport Administration and to the community in Gloucestershire".

His love of cricket is reflected in the name of the Yes No Wait Sorries partnership, whose yellow and red colours echo those of the MCC and which has owned 160 winners since 1999.

Jarveys Plate wins for the Yes No Wait Sorries at Cheltenham on New Year's Day 2019Credit: Alan Crowhurst

It also means Coley is still in touch with Fry, a star of Blackadder, QI and countless other television programmes and films, who was knighted for his services to mental health awareness but was once a pupil of his at a now-defunct prep school in Gloucestershire.

"I was a schoolteacher for ten years in my early life and I taught this naughty little boy English," Coley said. "Nobody could get on with him other than me because he loved poetry and we had a link.

"He's not into racing at all but we've kept in touch through cricket; he's a Gloucestershire supporter, and he still calls me sir and I call him Fry junior. I exchanged texts with him at midnight last night. 

"I also texted someone last night and said a long-priced double had come in, although he's a bit higher up the list than me!"

Coley played a huge part in bringing corporate hospitality to racing, putting up his first tent at Cheltenham in 1982 and at one stage overseeing 10,000 lunches during the four days of the festival.

He has been O'Brien's business partner since the trainer left Nigel Twiston-Davies to set up on his own. His yard has had more than 100 winners in each of the last four completed jumps seasons and landed its third Grade 1 race when Crambo recently repeated his 2023 success in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.

"I set Fergal up and I'm really proud of what he's achieved," Coley said. "I was announced to some people at the yard today as 'the teamaker' but Peter Thomas once described me in the Racing Post as the 'psychological safety net' and that was probably spot on."

Coley was in the yard on Tuesday morning and said of his honour: "I'm very flattered and I'm still trying to come to terms with it.

"We've opened some champagne. Cheltenham chairman Martin St Quinton's son Charlie works for us here as assistant so we're having a little celebration after racing tomorrow in the royal box, which will be lovely."

There was also an award in the Honours list for Zoe Osmond, the chief executive officer of GambleAware. She received an OBE for "services to tackling gambling harms".

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