Twiston signs Brennan after Johnson split

The move means that the rider's association with the County Durham trainer Howard Johnson is ending after only 13 months.

Johnson, who is backed by millionaire owner Graham Wylie, moved for Brennan last year following a bitter split with his previous rider Graham Lee.

Brennan rode 79 winners, 44 of Johnson's total of 54, during last season.

The highlight was the World Hurdle victory of Inglis Drever at the Cheltenham Festival in March, but Johnson, despite Wylie's financial investment, only finished 10th in the trainers' championship and rumours have been circulating that he was lining up a replacement.

Both Johnson and Wylie have denied this but Irish jockey Denis O'Regan has been consistently linked with the job. O'Regan has enjoyed increasing success as second jockey to Paul Carberry at Noel Meade's stable.

O'Regan said: "This hasn't been quite confirmed and I haven't signed anything.

"I have been approached and there has been a lot of speculation. It is a big decision for me to make as I am very happy riding for Noel Meade."

Brennan rode Pigeon Island to victory for Twiston-Davies at Worcester on Saturday. For the majority of last season, Tony Evans was first jockey to Twiston-Davies but he found it hard to enjoy the success of his predecessor Carl Llewellyn.

It seems Brennan, a former champion conditional jockey, had heard the rumours about O'Regan replacing him and made his move before he was pushed.