There are several aspects of Adam Nicol’s training operation that set him apart as he prepares to send Minella Study, his stable star, to the Cheltenham festival next week.
He prepares his horses on the magnificent expanse of Bamburgh beach on the Northumbrian coast, recently voted the third-best beach on the planet by Trip Advisor and with the 1,400-year-old Bamburgh Castle looming behind it. He has a 100% record at Cheltenham: one runner, one win, when Minella Study took a trial race in December. And while the overall total of nearly 200 elite athletes at his stable in Seahouses stands comparison with the likes of Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson, all but a couple of dozen have feathers.
Plumpton 2.00 Five Bar Gate 2.30 Rap Soul 3.00 Lord Of The Glance 3.30 Ferret Jeeter (nap) 4.00 Scottish King 4.30 Lasko Des Obeaux 5.00 Otie’s Friend
Taunton 2.10 Mecene 2.40 Gnomon 3.10 Kentucky River 3.40 Royal Jewel 4.10 Walkinthepresent (nb) 4.40 Kally Des Bruyeres 5.10 Thankyouandplease
Stratford-on-Avon 2.20 Cloaks Of Gold 2.50 Gaelic Rambler 3.20 Let It Rain 3.50 Harbour Light 4.20 Star Of Affinity 4.50 Red Metal 5.20 Corporal Jack Jones
Wolverhampton 5.30 Always Fearless 6.00 Church Wedding 6.30 Crown Relic 7.00 Brazilian Rose 7.30 Almaty Star 8.00 Time To Sparkle 8.30 Sweet Love
At 36, Nicol will be one of the youngest trainers with a festival runner next week, but he has been training racing pigeons since he was eight. “It’s a dying sport, pigeon racing, but in the north-east of England, it was massive, 20, 30, 40 years ago, with all the pitmen and that,” he said at his stable this week. “I’m the only lad in the village that does it now. It kept me out of trouble as a kid – what else would you do, hang around the streets or something?
“It’s exciting, and I do think it’s helped me with training the racehorses. It’s the same sort of logic and training routine. Animals are creatures of habit, you can’t just click your fingers and it takes time. You’ve got to get them fit and build that fitness up, and prep them through their feeding and so on before the race.”
Nicol started out in racing as a jump jockey, riding more than 100 winners over a dozen years including 13 on the popular mare Lady Buttons but since saddling his first runner as a trainer in December 2020 – an uncertain time for anyone to launch a fresh start – he has rapidly scaled fresh heights.
His third runner, Wise Eagle, a snip at £7,350, went down the road to Newcastle to win a Flat race in January 2021, and has since landed more than £200,000 for his owners on the Flat and over jumps, while also lining up for races including the Ascot Gold Cup and Ebor Handicap.
Galopin Des Champs has been ruled out of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, trainer Willie Mullins has announced.
Winner of the race in 2023 and 2024, the Audrey Turley-owned gelding was second to Inothewayurthinkin 12 months ago when trying to join the likes of Arkle and Best Mate as a three-time winner.
In two starts so far this season, the 10-year-old had been third on both occasions, in the Savills Chase on his reappearance and most recently to stablemate Fact To File in the Irish Gold Cup.
Mullins told Sporting Life: "Unfortunately Galopin Des Champs has been ruled out for the rest of the season. After working very well on Thursday morning he wasn't right on Friday morning and will miss the Gold Cup and the other spring festivals." PA Media
Now, Minella Study, unbeaten in three starts over hurdles, is about to set off at single-figure odds for the Triumph, the opening race on Gold Cup day and one of the Cheltenham festival’s most storied and prestigious events.
The ability to exercise his string on the beach is, Nicol feels, an essential part of his success, with both physical and mental benefits for his horses.
“Wise Eagle was a big flag-bearer for us, he’s let people know that what we’re doing works,” Nicol says. “Christian Williams trains down on the beach in Wales and he’s getting winners and we’re getting winners, and I do think it’s a massive bonus.
“Years ago, Bamburgh was known as the hidden secret of Northumberland but now, because of social media, it’s getting flooded with tourists. It’s why we try to go down early, before 10am, and when we were down this morning it was unreal.
“I think the horses don’t realise that they’re in training, doing that. Every day is different, there’s people in different areas, there’s seaweed and logs been washed up, and it just keeps them interested.
“The sand needs to be not too soft and not too firm, so it all depends on where the tide’s been, and they have to work. The hoofprints this morning have been four to six inches. Then after you can walk in the sea, which cools their legs and their tendons, and if they’ve got any cuts or knocks, the salt water is brilliant for taking inflammation away.
“There are trainers in Newmarket who pay a lot of money for salt-walkers, and we’ve got it free on the doorstep.”
Minella Study will head to the festival as the top-rated juvenile hurdler in Britain, although the opposition from Ireland’s powerhouse stables will be of a much higher calibre than he has faced so far.
His previous experience of Cheltenham could be invaluable, however, and Nicol’s quiet confidence in his young hurdler is infectious. One of his pigeons recently made it back from Roye, 60 miles north of Paris, in 16 hours, and Minella Study could be on the brink of a similarly memorable achievement.
“The form’s strong,” Nicol says. “He’s been to the track and done it, his main fitness work is all done now and he’s the same weight he was when he won there in December. Now we’ve got to go there, keep our feet on the ground and hopefully get a bit of luck on the day.
“We haven’t booked anywhere Friday night, though. I thought I’d wing it a little bit. If he gets beat, we’ll not be hanging around too long, but if he won, I’m not really worried about where we’re staying. We can worry about that after we’ve had a few pints.”
