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About: Paul Nicholls Racing

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Monday 22nd April

We head to Sandown on Saturday with the exciting prospect of Harry Cobden being crowned champion jockey for the first time.
He has been riding at the top of his game all season and richly deserves to end up top of the table.

Harry is such an important part of our team, provides vital feedback on the horses and I’m delighted to have put him on 84 of his winners this season.
The chances of my retaining the trainers’ title are pretty much over after Willie Mullins left Ayr in Saturday night with a substantial lead. We have given it a good go as usual and a glance at the statistics shows that we have had 127 winners this season including a double at Wincanton on Sunday. That’s more than other yard in this country and at a consistently high strike rate of 24%.
I’m proud of our system at Ditcheat which has delivered success at the highest level over many years. 3760 winners since 1991 confirms it works well and I have a target of 4,000 firmly in my sights.
I’m lucky enough to have been champion trainer fourteen times and will be doing my best to increase that total in the future. But it’s hard to be champion without any truly top horses and I’d say we have done really well to pick up all the prize money we have this season with the quality of the horses in the yard. We do lack top horses and some of our squad that have been on the go for quite a while have been running a bit flat.
The trainer I feel sorry for is Dan Skelton who looked to have sound claims when he hit the front in the title race but now looks to have been blown out of the water by the Mullins battalions.
I will be picking and choosing our runners through the week before taking a big team to Sandown on the final day on Saturday which can hopefully help us reach the total of £3 million in prize money. They include Fire Flyer and Panjari in the novice handicap hurdle, Threeunderthrufive in the bet365 Gold Cup and Blueking d’Oroux in the Select Hurdle.
Then we will be starting a new campaign afresh and it goes without saying that I will be giving it my best shot.

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Monday 8th April

We are heading to Aintree with plenty of runners for the Grand National meeting which starts on Thursday.

Ginny’s Destiny, Kalif du Berlais and Bravemansgame have solid chances in the first three races on the card while Cap du Mathan should give my daughter Olive a great spin in the Hunter Chase.
Ginny’s Destiny hasn’t stopped improving since he joined us at the start of the season. In time I’m sure he will get three miles but the two and a half mile Grade 1 Chase looks the right option for him at Liverpool after his fine performance at Cheltenham
Then it is the turn of Kalif du Berlais who is unbeaten in two starts for us and goes for the Grade 1 Anniversary four year old hurdle. He was always going to by-pass the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham and seems in top order at home.
It was clear Bravemansgame hated the heavy ground in the Gold Cup and hopefully conditions will be more suitable for him at Aintree.
On Friday Pic d’Orhy bids to repeat last year’s success in the Grade 1 Melling Chase. He’s another who missed the Cheltenham Festival to be fresh for Aintree.
Others of interest on Friday include Sonigino in the William Hill Handicap Hurdle and Afadil in the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle.
I’ve felt for some time that Kandoo Kid was an ideal candidate for the Topham Trophy but he doesn’t really want soft ground so I could keep him instead for Ayr.
Saturday sees Monmiral back in action after his brilliant victory in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham. He’s been raised 6lbs to a mark of 144 and should still be competitive in the three mile handicap hurdle that opens the card on Grand National day.
One I can’t wait to see run is Caldwell Potter who is set to make his debut for us in the Grade 1 two and a half mile Mersey Novice Hurdle. While he doesn’t show too much at home his form in Ireland was very smart and I felt it was important to give him time to acclimatise after his purchase at a dispersal sale early in February.
For the latest news on all my runners on Thursday, Friday and Saturday please turn to my Betfair column which goes live the previous day.

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Monday 1st April

We ended March on an upbeat note with a double at Plumpton on Sunday.

The course executive deserve plenty of praise for putting on serious prize money on their Premier race day and were rewarded with a bumper crowd and decent weather.
Fame and Fun was the first to score in a two and a half mile handicap Chase. He’s well named because he is a fun horse, runs consistently in his own grade and was winning for the first time over fences. He enjoyed the better ground and will run again before the end of the campaign.
Emailandy was very backward last season but he is going the right way now and was well on top at the end of the £25,000 handicap hurdle with the help of a positive ride by Harry Cobden. The best is yet to come from Emailandy who will head to Sandown on the last day of the season and will be exciting when he goes over fences.
We came tantalisingly close to a treble on the card with Makin’yourmindup running a fine race before being caught in the last stride in the £35,000 Handicap Chase over three and a quarter miles. I’m delighted with his progress this season and he hasn’t finished yet as he could well join our team going to Ayr in three weeks time.
We have a few runners again at Plumpton on Monday but will be quiet through the rest of the week with Kruger Park pencilled in for Warwick on Thursday and a couple of entries at the weekend.
Then it will be a case of fine tuning a strong squad for Aintree.

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