EASY RIDER NICHOLLS
Trainer Paul nicholls yesterday insisted he is happy to head to Cheltenham free of expectation and pressure as he strives to add to his 37 Festival successes.
The nine-time champion jump trainer is readying a strong team for next month’s four- day extravaganza, but with no bookmaker pricing any of his entries as outright favourite for their respective races, nicholls admitted he is tackling the meeting with hope and anticipation rather than unshakeable belief.
‘We are not going into the Festival under a great deal of pressure, which is quite good,’ said nicholls. ‘We have a good few entries and it is difficult to pick out one horse in isolation as our best chance as it’s so competitive. However, i do like the juveniles that could run in the Triumph Hurdle (Clan Des Obeaux, Connetable, Frodon and Tommy Silver) and thee Fred Winter Juvenile Hur
le (Diego dduu Charmil and d romain de Senam).
‘i wouldn’t say there is a standout horse this year, we just have lots of nice chances. a horsee we ran at Taunton,n, Qualando, wouldd be a live one for thee Mar-Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle as he won the Fred Winter last year and, although he’s run three dire races this year, that was much more like it on Tuesday. i might put the cheekpieces on him to help him concentrate. ‘i think the boys’ race will suit him well as they go flat-out and he wants a good pace to aim at.’ Some onlookers h have been quick to write off nicholls following a poor few months, suggesting irish trainer Willie Mullins could wrestle the Trainer’ s Championship from his grasp. However, nicholls was quick to counter that view, saying: ‘if Willie won every race he’s got a favourite in then he could win the cham- pionship, but as it stands he’s a million behind us in prize money.
‘He’s got to win that without us winning any more and i’d like to think we are capable of winning plenty before the end of the season.
‘He’s got an awesome team for Cheltenham and they look as though they are going to be hard to beat but they aren’t all going to win. That just can’t happen.
‘if i’ve had a bad season with £ 1.5million in prizemoney then who knows what’s happened to everyone else? if we crack £2m again this season that will mean we have reached that figure for a number of successive years and if we did that every season, everyone would be delighted.’