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About: Paul Nicholls Racing

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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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Monday 25th March

We saved the best to last at Newbury on Saturday with the brilliant victory of Regent’s Stroll in the £100,000 Goffs UK Spring bumper.

A gorgeous, big strong horse from the family of Denman, he made a stylish winning debut at Ascot in November and I’ve had the valuable Goffs race in mind for him ever since. That was partly because I didn’t want to risk him picking up another penalty and it was a brave shout by his owner Chris Giles to go along with my plan even though as a five year old, Regent’s Stroll had to give a stone to most of the four year olds in the race.
He won with authority at Newbury, was doing all his best work in the closing stages, and will not be running again this season because we need to look after him with the future in mind. We have always thought Regent’s Stroll was smart, he’s already done plenty of schooling over hurdles and he’s an exciting prospect for next season.
While it was great to see him win in spectacular style it’s a concern that some of our horses are not running as well as they should be.
Marvellous Mick bled at Ascot on Sunday and another of ours bled the previous day. Some of ours are in and out and it’s the same in plenty of racing yards, too, so there is obviously something odd going around. Even so, we are building up for a big push for the final weeks of the season. I’ll enter a few over the Easter weekend and will be sending a decent team on Sunday and Monday to Plumpton who are putting on some serious prize money.
Then its all systems go for Aintree, Cheltenham, Ayr, Perth and Sandown. I see the Racing Post trying to make something out of nothing as usual regarding Threeunderthrufive not running in the Grand National and going for the valuable Bet365 gold cup at Sandown on April 27. I have never been that keen. Quite simply after discussing with Harry we both unanimously think he is not ready for that test and it would not be in his best interests and Max and his family agreed with us. Perhaps next year but definitely not this year .
For the latest news on my Saturday runners please be sure to check out my Betfair column which goes live the previous day.

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Monday 18th March

We ended an eventful week with a double on Saturday which took our score for the season to 109

Seriously testing conditions at Cheltenham after heavy rain didn’t play to our strengths but Monmiral excelled in winning the Pertemps Final. He has always had loads of ability but didn’t take to chasing and needed the run at Chepstow when he qualified for the Pertemps by finishing fourth. I thought he had a sporting chance of finishing in the money but didn’t really expect him to win like he did. He will head to Aintree next.
Ginny’s Destiny ran a blinder in finishing a close second to Grey Dawning in the Turners and should stay three miles in time. He is another pencilled in for our Aintree team.
Bravemansgame hated the ground at Cheltenham. I withdrew him there two years ago in similar conditions and it was clear from an early stage in the Gold Cup on Friday that he wasn’t handling the ground. He could also go to Aintree if the ground is suitable or I could keep him for the Oaksey Chase at Sandown on the final day of the season.
Stay Away Fay pulled off a shoe in the Brown Advisory Chase and I suspect he didn’t like the track in that ground. He scoped dirty later that day but that might well have been because he’d been galloping around Cheltenham in the mud. Forty eight hours later his trachea wash was 100%. I will be giving him an entry in the Scottish Grand National. Next season I’ll be aiming Stay Away Fay at something like the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury rather than thinking that he is a Gold Cup horse. He just lacks a gear and could develop into a National horse.
We have lots to run before the end of the season and drier ground would definitely help as you saw at Kempton on Saturday. Horses like Outlaw Peter and Irish Hill have been struggling on bad ground all winter and obviously appreciated the better conditions there.
We don’t have too many to run this week because I’m prepared to wait until the ground starts to dry up. But Larchmont Lass deserves a shot at the mares’ final at Newbury on Saturday where Regent’s Stroll goes in the £100,000 Goffs Bumper.
After Saturday’s Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter and after chatting with Gordon and Su Hall it has been decided to retire Trucker’s Lodge. He has been fantastic horse, he won the race in 2020 and ran in it 5 times. He will have a great retirement and deserves it.
Interest in the trainer’s championship has sparked into life now that my former assistant Dan Skelton tops the table. If he beats me I’ll be proud of him and the first to shake his hand. Dan is competitive like me, he will not give up until the final day and neither will I, so it should be fun.
Please be sure to check out my Betfair column for my Saturday runners which goes live the previous day.

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