Paul Nicholls is the current champion trainer over jumps and a short price to retain his title this season. He expects to send around 25 horses to the Festival meeting, down from 36 last season, but will be double-handed in three of the feature events – the Gold Cup, Champion Chase and World Hurdle – all of which he has already won four times in the past.
Saphir Du Rheu
He’s the joint-favourite or second-favourite with Zarkandar depending on who you look at for the World Hurdle. We’ve just heard that More Of That is out of the race, so last year’s winner unfortunately won’t be there to defend his crown. Saphir Du Rheu ended up last year rated 165 over hurdles, we went chasing with him and unfortunately he parted company with Sam first time, won well at Exeter second time and then had a fall at Kempton over Christmas. We thought that he’s a young horse and the World Hurdle is still wide open, so why not try him over hurdles. He won the Cleeve Hurdle staying on really strongly up the hill and that’s put him at the front of the betting for the World Hurdle. He gallops and jumps, I think there’s a lot of improvement to come from that Cleeve Hurdle especially as he hadn’t run for a while. We’re very pleased with the way he is at the moment and he goes there with a leading chance. Sam has decided to ride him rather than Zarkandar, but that was a close call. He loves this horse and he thinks that one day he might win the Cheltenham Gold Cup on him, because whereas Big Buck’s would never jump a fence, this lad would jump a fence in the future and we’ll be doing that again some time.
Le Mercurey
He’s entered in a couple of the handicaps, he’s in the Coral Cup and also in the boys’ race [Martin Pipe Conditionals’ Handicap Hurdle] and I suspect he’ll end up running in the boys’ race on the Friday. He won two from three in France last season and was unlucky not to win three. He ended up after winning in France with a rating of 149, yet L’Ami Serge [the second-favourite for the Supreme Novice Hurdle] who was quite close to him ended up with something like 130. He ran OK in the Gerry Fielden at Newbury, but he wasn’t really tuned up that day and he couldn’t possibly win off 149 on his first run in England. He was dropped 5lb and then ran very nicely at Ascot next time, so he’s quite unexposed. He has to run off 144, almost certainly in the Martin Pipe race, and then he’ll go chasing in the autumn as a five-year-old, which is what we bought him for. He jumps fences beautifully and he’s the future for us.
Silviniaco Conti
It’s cold and there’s no rugs on but he looks fantastic in his coat and I think this horse looks way better than he did this time last year [when he finished fourth in the Gold Cup after jumping the last in front]. He’s in really good order, he’s just been out with second lot and done some really hard work, and you wouldn’t know it seeing him. He won the Betfair Chase very nicely first time with cheekpieces on, because he’d just been racing a bit lazily. Then he won the King George very nicely, that was probably a career-best for him and he galloped on very strongly.
Something he’s been doing this year which he didn’t do last year is finish his races strongly. We found out after he won at Aintree last year that even though he’d won, he was suffering quite badly from gastric ulcers. We’re on top of that now and that’s made a big difference, and the cheek pieces have just got him jumping sharper and stopped him being lazy really. He had a nice racecourse gallop about 10 days ago at Wincanton with Sam Winner and Rocky Creek and went very nicely so we’re really where we want to be with him. A lot of people said I should have given him another run but the Gold Cup will be his fourth run of the season and I think when Denman, Kauto and See More Business won the Gold Cup, that was probably their fourth run of the season.
He’s very fit and looks fantastic in his skin. He’s big and strong, and we are very, very happy with the way he’s going at the moment. We’ve just got to get through the next fortnight and hope for a bit better luck than last year. He’s been a bit unlucky at Cheltenham in a lot of ways. He ran very well once there in the Bula over hurdles, and was travelling so well in the Gold Cup two years ago when he fell at the third-last, and last year he jumped the last in front. This year, he’s finishing his races much better and on form, he’s probably the one they’ve got to beat.
Dodging Bullets
Probably on form this year he deserves to be favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but he’s not. He’s had a fantastic season, he needed his first run at Cheltenham, which all ours did in the autumn. He won the Tingle Creek nicely and then the Clarence House the other day beating Sprinter Sacre. The nice thing about that was that Noel [Fehily] said he had plenty left in the tank, he was just idling from the back of the last. What he does like is nice soft ground and I wouldn’t want it to dry out too much for Cheltenham. I think stamina is his forte over two miles, he’s a real staying two-miler. The track on the Old course that the Champion Chase is run on, I always think is quite an easy two, whereas Ascot and Sandown, where he’s won, is a stiff two. I’d like to see the ground quite testing, they’re obviously going to go a good gallop and that will suit him. He’s in really good order with himself at the moment. We had a few problems with him in the spring when his form was tailing off but sorted that out and he’s been much better since. Last year he was mentally quite immature and you couldn’t do much with him. He’s so much more relaxed this year so we’ve been able to work him harder and probably get him fitter. He’s grown up really, and that helps.
Bouvreuil
I’ve only run him twice, he was third at Sandown in a good handicap hurdle having won a minor race in France, then he was fourth at Newbury the other day when he ran again very nicely. He runs in the Fred Winter [Juvenile Handicap Hurdle] and I think he’s one of the favourites. He just keeps improving, I think his mark is 133 for the Fred Winter and with plenty of cut in the ground and against juveniles, which he hasn’t had this season, he must have a great chance. Obviously the Fred Winter is a very competitive race but the last couple of years the horses that we’ve run in it have all run very tidily. This is going to be a lovely horse as a chaser this season.
Caid Du Berlais
He’s had a good season, he won the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in November and ran really well there last time over two miles and five, he just got a little tight to the second-last which made all the difference between winning and losing. He does like decent ground so we’ve kept him fresh and haven’t run him, he will almost certainly run in the handicap over two miles and five on the Thursday [the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate]. He’s going to be near the top of the weights but that won’t matter. The New Course and two miles five suits him nicely and he’s always run really well at Cheltenham, first in the Fred Winter and then in the boys’ race last year and he’ll give a good account of himself.
Ptit Zig
You all saw him going upside down at Ascot 10 days ago unfortunately, but until then he’d had a fantastic season, winning four novice chases on the trot. He beat Josses Hill at Ascot and then won the Dipper at Cheltenham over New Year, then went to Ascot the other day in the Grade One and was travelling beautifully but then just got tight to one fence and paid the penalty. The plus side of that was that he hadn’t gone far enough to have had a hard race and hopefully he’ll have learned from that that he can’t make mistakes. He worked nicely this morning and he’ll school on Thursday and next week just to sharpen him up. He’s a high-class horse who won a Grade One at Auteuil and until this hiccup the other day he was four-from-four over fences. All horses are entitled to make a mistake and learn from it, he’s a high-class chaser and he’ll be a very interesting horse next season when he takes on the older horses.
Calipto
He was fourth the other day in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and third in the Triumph Hurdle last year when Daryl [Jacob] was travelling well and the stirrup leather broke. He ran at Cheltenham in November and made a noise so he had a breathing operation straight away. Then he ran very nicely at Newbury the other day. We thought they were going to go a very fast gallop and along with some others, and with hindsight we dropped him in more than we should have done. If we’d ridden the race again we’d have been much closer to the pace but he stayed on strongly into fourth place. The obvious race for him is the County Hurdle, he is in a couple of the other races as well but he’s almost certain to run in the County unless the ground is very fast. He’s still on a nice mark and probably unexposed in a lot of ways. He’s already schooled over fences and he’ll be chasing in the autumn but I think there’s still a lot of improvement to come from this horse and a fast-run County Hurdle would suit him. He’s not unlike Lac Fontana who won the race last year.
Vibrato Valtat
He’s probably one of the most improved horses in training. Everybody was thinking that he was ungenuine but this is a prime example of what a breathing operation does for a horse. He was struggling with his breathing last year and not finishing his races. Everyone thought he was ungenuine but we knew what it was and we sorted him out in the summer. He needed his first run over hurdles at Cheltenham as a prep and since then he’s done nothing but improve. He’s rated 153 now over fences and was very impressive at Warwick the other day in the Kingmaker Novice Chase. He jumps, he travels and he’s improving. He runs in the Arkle on the first day, apart from Willie’s horse [Un De Sceaux] who’s the red-hot favourite I suppose we’d have an outstanding chance, but it’s all about jumping and they’re going to go a gallop that’s a bit different to some of those three and four runner races that have been going on as preps. It will be a true gallop and plenty of runners and that won’t do this lad any harm. You can ride him a lot more positively now, you don’t have to worry about being front too soon and he’s going to be a really smart two-mile chaser.
Sam Winner
He’s got a great record at Cheltenham and he runs in the Gold Cup. He’s done nothing but improve this year, he won at Cheltenham first time out over three miles three-and-a-half and then won at Aintree when Holywell [his main market rival] didn’t jump at all. I saw all sorts of excuses that everything in that race would have beaten him if it had been a jump race and not a flat race [because a number of fences were omitted due to low sun]. I can assure you that he’d have won even easier with fences in front of him. I ran him in Ireland in the Lexus at Christmas which was probably quick enough afterwards, but he ran third to Road To Riches and was in front halfway up the run-in. That was probably a career-best, he goes well fresh and loves Cheltenham and he’s a really live outsider for the Gold Cup. The Giant Bolster is a great example of an outsider who can run really tidily in the race and this one will love a fast gallop, better ground and Cheltenham when he’s fresh. If you just look at the Lexus form, Road To Riches is second-favourite for the Gold Cup, Carlingford Lough [the Hennessy Gold Cup winner at Leopardstown in February] was fifth, so on form he’s not totally out of having a chance of running into the frame. He’s got an entry in the National as well, we haven’t discussed that but I’ve always thought he was a horse who might end up running in the National.
Wonderful Charm
He runs in the Ryanair Chase. He’s got a load of talent, he was second to Don Cossack at Down Royal on ground that was far, far too soft for him, then we ran him in the Peterborough Chase and he ran OK. We shouldn’t have run him in the King George at Christmas but we knew we weren’t going to run him until the spring and we have purposely kept him fresh for Cheltenham. Last spring we had all sorts of problems with a foot and we ran him [at the Festival] but he didn’t run to his best, I was just fighting a losing battle. He’s fine now and really fresh and working nicely, and he’s the sort of horse who could run really well at a big price in the Ryanair. He wouldn’t want the ground too soft, that’s the only thing, but if the ground dries out he will run a tidy race.
Southfield Theatre
He’s in the RSA Chase. He’s had a great season and won three from four over fences. He was really good at Exeter the other day in his prep race for Cheltenham over two miles and three and that’s put him right. He ran very well in last year’s Pertemps Final carrying 11st 11lb, he was beaten on the line. The rough and tumble of the RSA will suit him well, he jumps well and looks really fantastic. I’ve always thought a lot of him and since he came in from the summer, the RSA has always been his target. Bar one blip at Newbury on quite bad ground, he’s been in really good order and he’s going to be a cracking horse to run in three-mile chases next year.
Mr Mole
He’s another horse who is one of the most improved in training. He runs in the Champion Chase off the back of winning his last four races, at Newton Abbot, Exeter, Sandown and Newbury the other day in the Game Spirit. Master Minded followed that route from the Sandown handicap to the Game Spirit and won the Champion Chase the same year, so I hope that’s a good omen. He’s a hugely talented horse and we’ve always thought an awful lot of him. Mentally he’s a lot more mature this year, we’ve learned a few things about him and been a bit harder on him and AP [McCoy] has worked out that he needs to let him bowl along rather than try to hold on to him. He’s on a roll at the moment and worked absolutely superbly this morning. On the form I think he’s got a great chance in a very open Champion Chase, there are two heroes coming back [Sprinter Sacre and Sire De Grugy] with question marks about them, though Sire De Grugy was obviously very good on Saturday [at Chepstow]. There are the horses coming on through too and he’s one of them, I think he’ll run a big race and I think AP does too, he’s got a lot of faith in him now.
Zarkandar
He’s already a winner at the Festival in the Triumph Hurdle and he’s had a great season this year, winning the French Champion Hurdle really nicely. He had five in front of him going to the last and was pushed out to win really well. He got beaten a short head in the Long Walk [at Ascot] where going to the last he was going to win five minutes and just pulled himself up in front, which is something he’d always do at home and if Sam rode the race again, he’d do it differently. We’ve purposely kept him fresh to go straight to Cheltenham because he’s so much better when he’s fresh. Last year was a bit of an afterthought even though he finished fourth, but we’d given him some hard runs whereas this year we’ve trained him just for this race. He worked very, very well at Wincanton 10 days ago, we’re very happy with him and he looks great. These horses have all worked really hard this morning and he’s still bright and sparky. I think he’s got a fantastic chance in the World Hurdle. The great thing about it being more competitive is that he will just get a bit of a lead to the last and not be in front too soon. He’s always been a bit of a character but he’s a talented horse and in good order. I suspect Noel [Fehily] will ride him but we haven’t sorted that yet.
Rocky Creek
Nicholls also paraded Rocky Creek, one of the favourites for the Grand National after winning the BetBright Chase at Kempton on Saturday.
The handicapper has put him up 9lb for winning at Kempton on Saturday so effectively he’s 9lb well in in the National. He won very well on Saturday, we’d always set out to aim him for the National. After he didn’t run so well in the Hennessy earlier in the season we didn’t enter him for anything at Cheltenham, and it’s probably just as well as we’d have been tempted to run him because at his very best he’s definitely on the fringes of the Gold Cup. We might be able to do that next year. Saturday was probably the first time we’ve had him really how we’ve wanted him. He looks great as you can see and it’s off to Aintree now.
