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Paul Nicholls Stable Tour

mayo said:
Nicholls usually gives his horses jabs around now.
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Yep - mentioned in this piece from Betfair

By the end of next week all the horses would have had their mid-season flu jabs - they don't tend to run for at least 14 days after having those - and we can really kick on again.

First off, our King George winner Silviniaco Conti will almost certainly go straight to the Gold Cup. Kempton third Al Ferof will take in the Denman Chase at Newbury next month before we decide whether to go down the Ryanair or Gold Cup route with him.

Even though he ran a career-best on ratings, the Lexus told us that Unioniste is probably not good enough for the Gold Cup just yet - you have to remember that he is still only a six-year-old - but he will get an entry just in case the ground comes up bottomless. My immediate target for him is a conditions race over 3m2f at Kelso next month, with the 2015 Grand National further down the line!

Hennessy runner-up Rocky Creek is fine after his little setback after Newbury and goes for the Argento at Cheltenham on January 25, and he will get an entry for the Gold Cup as well as the Grand National.

I would think that our Welsh National third Tidal Bay - what a star he is, by the way - will now go straight to Aintree.

Chepstow runner-up Hawkes Point will go to the Haydock Grand National Trial in February en route to Aintree, while There's No Panic will also have a Grand National entry but we will wait for better ground for his next run.

Sire Collonges will have an Aintree entry, but first he will take in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham, while Rolling Aces will go for the Ascot Chase over 2m5f next month and have a Ryanair entry.

Of my novices, Wonderful Charm will probably go straight to Cheltenham. Dodging Bullets will go to the Kingmaker at Warwick on February 8, and my other Arkle hope Hinterland could go to Ascot for what was the Victor Chandler, but is more likely to take in Doncaster on the January 25. Both will have a Champion Chase entry, too, though - if you haven't got a ticket, then you can't win it.

Caid Du Berlais is a horse that has gone under the radar somewhat - until now anyway! - but I am quite excited by him and he could take in the Scilly Isles at Sandown and then the Pendil at Kempton next. He will have an Arkle and Jewson entry.

Black Thunder will run at Warwick a week on Saturday, and then hopefully go straight to the RSA at Cheltenham. He goes nicely when fresh. And our Newbury winner Benvolio will have one more run before going for the Reynoldstown at Ascot next month, a race we won with Rocky Creek last year.

And I have some exclusive news for you on our Feltham disappointment Just A Par. We scoped him on Sunday morning, and it confirmed what we had expected after Kempton, and he has had his palate cauterised.

That's not a full breathing operation, and so doesn't require that much rest, so he will run again in mid-February on decent ground. He could be a horse who misses Cheltenham, and goes straight to Aintree, though. But we will see.

Sam Winner will run in the 3m novice chase on Betfair's Super Saturday at Newbury on February 8, and will have entries in the RSA and the four-miler at Cheltenham.

The legend that is Big Buck's is being aimed at the Cleeve Hurdle but I would possibly like to get one more racecourse gallop into him before then, and Zarkandar will also get a World Hurdle entry. He may come into his own over 3m on better ground, but we will possibly take in the National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell before then. But I will sit down with Chris and Jared and make a plan there.

Celestial Halo will hopefully be back cantering next week after his recent setback - he was lame before the Long Walk - and Salubrious will definitely get a World Hurdle entry, too.

Ptit Zig could go for the Haydock Champion Hurdle Trial on January 18 and then Wincanton afterwards, and he will get a Champion Hurdle entry just in case it comes up heavy there. He is rated 159 after finishing second under top weight in the Ladbroke, so handicaps are now out of the equation.

I can reveal that we found Far West to be suffering from stomach ulcers after disappointing last time and he is being aimed at the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury next month, possibly along with the unbeaten Irving, who is Supreme-bound.
After talking to Axom's racing manager Dan Downey this morning, we decided not to run Irving in such testing ground in the Tolworth at Sandown tomorrow.

Of my juveniles, I think Newbury winner Calipto, Triumph Hurdle favourite in some places I gather, needs some more experience, so I may run him in a novice hurdle in the next fortnight, at somewhere like Ascot or Taunton, before going for the Adonis at Kempton next month.

I was thrilled by Vicenzo Mio at Kempton and he goes for a Grade 2 hurdle at Cheltenham on the 25th; he is improving by leaps and bounds.

And if those aren't enough updates for you, I will also throw in the fact that impressive Sandown winner Saphir Du Rheu is heading for the Lanzarote next!

On a more serious note, things are going really well for Team Ditcheat at the moment and we have plenty of ammunition still to fire in the second half of the season. And we can't wait.

But everyone in the racing game knows the next bad spell is never too far away, so we are keeping our feet firmly on the ground here, as we always do.

I must stress though that these plans are not set in stone. Things do change rapidly in racing.
 
Daryl's blog

Kempton stages the prestigious William Hill King George VI Chase on December 26thin which Paul Nicholls had two runners – Al Ferof (my ride) and Silviniaco Conti ridden by Noel Fehily. Sadly, Al Ferof wanted better ground and I believe would also prefer a left handed track. Silviniaco Conti, on the other hand,relished the conditions and provided Paul with his eighth King George winner with his third different horse and a perfect Christmas present for my good mate Noel. Noel has missed many good rides through injury so the win was a fitting reward.

It’s great that Paul’s horses are running well - it’s a true credit to Team Ditcheat. Everyone is working really hard at home and the new challenges are working out well - long many that continue.

Also over Christmas, I rode Tidal Bay in the Coral Welsh Grand National (Chepstow Racecourse on December 28th). The course did a tremendous job to hold the meeting and the ground was in good condition considering the volume of rain all regions are currently experiencing. Tidal Bay was top weight, effectively carrying nearly two stone more than the majority of the field, and he ran a blinder to finish third. Annoyingly, I was given a two day ban for overuse of the whip – I used the whip 10 times over three miles and five furlongs in heavy going – two over the allotted amount. It saddens me because it wasn’t excessive and going forward, I have to be extremely careful as another whip incident from now till May would see be banned for a very long period – anything from two weeks to 40 days! Not a pleasant position to be in I can tell you.

I also managed to enjoy Olympia in December. The lads and I were invited to present rosettes to the winning Shetland Grand National jockeys. It truly is a great event and I very much enjoy seeing the young riders come through.

I must confess to being relieved that racing was off last weekend because I’ve been as sick as a pig! I rode out two lots for Paul last Friday and wasn’t feeling great – a little bit cold and achy bones. Come Saturday I was bed ridden. I missed Megan Nicholls ride her first Point-to-Point winner at Larkhill on Sunday and finally felt better Monday evening. It’s been a good detox I can tell you!
 
^Whip situation not helping his cause at the minute
 
mayo said:
It sounds like he bottled it.
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That might be harsh Mayo. Seems to be a split between those who take the Nicholls statement at face value and those who see a bit of pique in it.

A few thoughts.

1. Nicholls seems like a man who cares what other people - "uniformed opinion" if you like - think about him. And a bit like the Clive Smith row his efforts to explain himself only serve to give the story more legs. Unless his purpose was to expedite Jacobs exit hard to know what was achieved. "When your are explaining your losing".

2. The big unknown here is Big Bucks true form - if Jacob felt that he genuinely had a better chance of winning the race on something else - and there are other contenders in the yard - then he is perfectly entitled to make that judgement. The issue seems to be that in doing he is at odds with his employer's assessment of the yards chances and what Andy Stewart refers to "those that know the horse well". Whether this is related to Daryl also picking the wrong one in the King George who knows but a jockey whose judgement is questioned by trainers can't be in a good position. When he was No2 he didn't have to make these choices and maybe that is a position he is more comfortable in.

3. Ruby was and is a superb judge and any incumbent was going to suffer by comparison. A lot now rests on the outcome of the Cleeve - if Big Bucks hoses up Daryl will have called it wrong and is probably looking at a return to no2 as his best case scenario.
 
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Jacob moves on

"That's all finished now, as far as I'm concerned," the jockey said from the weighing room here, refusing to offer any further detail. "Paul's put out his statement and that's it. It's really not my business. There's plenty of nice horses left to look forward to in the future, so I'm happy."

"We've been very happy. I've had a Grade One winner for Paul on Hinterland, plenty of winners. Obviously, I've missed quite a chunk of the season with the shoulder injury. Take that out and I'm very happy with it. Season's gone well."
 
saphir de rheu


He said: "I'm not really (desperate) to get him to Cheltenham, he's only five and he's going to be a fantastic chaser in time.

"I just said to Andy on the phone that we must look after him because he could be as good a chaser as Andy has owned in time so we are going to look after him and make a plan.

"He's won three good handicaps now and I think Harry gave him a fantastic ride. He rang me up earlier to say there's going to be no pace and could he make the running, and I said if you think that's right then do it."
 
 
Obviously, Irving is our main hope in the Supreme and hopefully he will confirm his position in the opening race of the Festival with a good run in the Dovecote at Kempton tomorrow. I also have Fascino Rustico and Lac Fontana in here, but the latter has multiple entries and at the moment I am slightly favouring the County Hurdle for him.

Dodging Bullets and Hinterland are my two for the Arkle, though I would really like the ground to dry up for Hinterland who has an outside chance of running in the Champion Chase if that race did cut up badly, but that is unlikely.

Ideally, I would want testing ground for my Champion Hurdle entry Ptit Zig, who I didn't think was at his best when failing by 4 ½ lengths to give Melodic Rendezvous 4lb at Haydock last time. But the meeting will start on the easy side on Tuesday, and there will be a small field, so he will probably take his chance before we put him away for the season.

I could run Just A Par in the National Hunt Chase if it was good ground, or perhaps Black Thunder if it was soft. And while I won't have a runner in the Mares' Hurdle, I could have Dark Lover in the novices' handicap chase but he wouldn't be eligible were he to win the Pendil at Kempton tomorrow.

On Wednesday, I won't have a runner in the Neptune - though Lac Fontana is currently entered - but Sam Winner is likely to be our sole representative in the RSA Chase, though Just A Par, Black Thunder and Wonderful Charm are still in the race. It is all ground-dependent, though, and no plans are set in stone.

As I said earlier, there is a very small chance that Hinterland could run in the Champion Chase were the ground to dry out and the race to cut up, but Sire Collonges is a definite in the Cross Country Chase.

I have about nine in the Coral Cup, and I think I have four or so in the Fred Winter, including Keltus, recent French purchase Katgary, weekend Wincanton winner Aldopicgros, and Solar Impulse, who runs at Kempton tomorrow.

If I am going to have a runner in the Champion Bumper then it will be this week's Southwell winner Great Try, though that looks pretty unlikely at the moment.

Wonderful Charm is clearly our main hope in the JLT, and he could be our only runner if I decide to go with Caid Du Berlais in the Martin Pipe boys' race.

I have Southfield Theatre for the Pertemps, and Al Ferof for the Ryanair, though he is still in the Champion Chase, too. I strongly suspect Al Ferof will go for the 2m5f race though, even if it comes up heavy. But we will see.

I have There's No Panic pencilled in for the Kim Muir, and all four of mine - Big Buck's, Celestial Halo, Salubrious and Zarkandar - are set to run in the World Hurdle. At this stage there are no plans to run Saphir Du Rheu, who goes to Fontwell on Sunday, at Cheltenham.

I am likely to be represented by only Calipto in the Triumph unless Alcala wins the Adonis at Kempton tomorrow, and I have about eight or nine in the County Hurdle, probably headed up by Lac Fontana and Vibrato Valtat.

I won't have a runner in the Foxhunters' but Port Melon could go in the Albert Bartlett, and I have five or so in the Martin Pipe.

As for the Grand Annual, my main hopes at the moment are probably Mr Mole and Shooters Wood, and I have three in the big one.

Obviously, Silviniaco Conti is our main hope in the Gold Cup but Rocky Creek will take his chance, as will Unioniste if it comes up testing.

I hope that helps!
 
CHAMPION Paul Nicholls sounded a warning to his arch rival Nicky Henderson as the two protagonists shape up to each for the serious months of the NH season.

At stake is the honour of lifting the trainers’ crown, a prize that in April went to Nicholls for an eighth time just when he least expected it after his seven-year reign had been interrupted by his Lambourn adversary in 2012-13.

Having returned the trophy to the Ditcheat sideboard, Nicholls is determined to keep it, no matter that Henderson has such powerful ammunition as Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig back among his illustrious team.

Nicholls counters with such established performers as Silviniaco Conti, Zarkandar and Rocky Creek – though from what he said at his Owners’ Day on Sunday he is putting his faith in youth to help retain his status as the nation’s number one: “We have got as exciting a bunch of young horses that we have ever had.

“A year ago I honestly didn’t believe I had a chance of being champion last season but everyone pulled together and I hope we can do it again. It’s not me who’s been champion eight times, it’s Team Ditcheat.”

From last term’s string some 50 horses have moved on in one way or another to pastures new to be replaced by a host of talented fresh faces who were among 82 horses paraded by the trainer.

The watch words at Ditcheat are Emerging Talent – and that is the name of one of the most eagerly anticipated runners from the stable. This Golan five-year-old impressed when winning a Naas bumper for Irish connections on his racecourse debut in March and was quickly purchased in the face of fierce competition by Paul Barber, Nicholls’ landlord.

The trainer said: “Emerging Talent is a big, gorgeous chasing type who has summered in Ditcheat and has schooled well. He will start in a novices’ hurdle – it may be the 2m6f race at Wincanton that Denman won in October nine years ago.”

Another smart new Irish import is All Set To Go, a close third at Navan in a Group Three three-year-olds’ middle-distance race for County Tyrone trainer Andy Oliver on his last appearance in April.

“All Set To Go mixed it with some of the best of his age group at two and three and is officially rated 102 on the Flat. We gelded him in the spring and he’s spent the summer at grass. He is built to go jumping, has done lots of schooling and is an exciting prospect as a juvenile hurdler.”

One of the unluckiest losers last season was Calipto who could well have won the Triumph Hurdle but for a broken stirrup preventing Daryl Jacob from riding a proper finish. He finished fourth and then ran third at Aintree.

“Calipto looked to want further than 2m at Aintree and with that in mind we might start him in a Grade One over 2m4f at Auteuil, a race we won with Ptit Zig last year.”

Keltus is the same age and also ran fourth at the Cheltenham Festival – in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap – but this four-year-old is set to go chasing. “He’ll start at Newton Abbot on September 29 to get experience and work his way up from there.”

A tremendous recruit for novice chasing will be Saphir Du Rheu, a five-year-old who improved 35lb over hurdles last season with three tough staying handicap hurdle victories on the bounce, finishing with a triumph over subsequent Grade One winner Whisper in the Welsh Champion Hurdle on February 1. “Saphir Du Rheu has returned a stronger horse after the summer and may have one run over hurdles before going over fences.”

Irish Saint is another destined for the bigger obstacles. This smart five-year-old won a Grade Two hurdle at Ascot in January and was third in the Grade Three Betfair Hurdle at Newbury three weeks later. “He looks as well as ever and will probably be ready at the end of October.”

Ibis Du Rheu – a three-year-old half brother to Saphir Du Rheu – arrives from France a hurdles winner for Guillaume Macaire. “He jumps brilliantly but he won’t be going to the Triumph Hurdle,” stressed Nicholls who added: “If ever there was an embryonic chaser, this is it.”

Sam Twiston-Davies, Nick Scholfield and Noel Fehily will ride the majority of the horses but one jockey missing is Harry Derham. The trainer's nephew has retired as a conditional aged just 19 after suffering a loss of confidence following a heavy fall.


Read more: http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Pau...tory-22903405-detail/story.html#ixzz3D6N9RS4g
 
From Paul ferguson on cheltenham zone

TARA POINT

Paul Nicholls looks to have a strong team of novice hurdlers for this season and the one I’ve plumped for is Tara Point, who looked a potentially high-class mare when emphatically winning a Taunton bumper in April and is the type to rattle up a sequence against her own sex.

The five-year-old grey was a wide-margin winner (scored by 36 lengths) between the flags for Chloe Roddick a year earlier and the lay-off was certainly no inconvenience, as she travelled with some purpose before striding clear in very taking fashion. Likely to prove difficult to beat in mares’ only novice hurdles this season, Tara Point might prove good enough to take on the likes of Annie Power in the David Nicholson at Cheltenham next March.
 
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