MA’AMA MIA!
OLIVE NICHOLLS LOOKING TO SHINE FOR HER MUM
MOTHER and daughter Georgie and olive nicholls team up at sandown today for what would be a famous success with Thank You Ma’am on Mother’s Day weekend.
The five-year-old has acquitted himself well under rules so far, placing third in a bumper and finishing the runner-up in his last three hurdle starts.
On each occasion he has met with and been beaten by a smart-looking rival, with Paul Nicholls’ Fire Flyer defeating him at Wincanton and Harry Derham’s Fourofakind finishing half a length ahead at Hereford last time out.
Champion trainer
Paul is Nicholls’ exhusband and Derham is her nephew, and the rivalry with the former will be reignited as Fire Flyer also runs in the European Breeders’ Fund Betfair ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Handicap Hurdle Final.
Carry
The race is run over two and a half miles and is worth over €52,000 to the winner, with Fire Flyer set to carry topweight and Thank You Ma’am under a bottom-weight further reduced by the 7lb claimed by his rider Olive, daughter of both trainers in question.
“He’s been a bit unlucky, he’s been second in his last three races and each time he’s just bumped into a really nice horse,” Nicholls said of her runner.
“One trained by Paul, my
■■Molly HUNTER
ex-husband, and the other trained by Harry Derham, who is my nephew, so if I could get rid of my own family he’d have won twice! He’s been running very consistently, he’s stepping up to two and a half (miles) and he’ll appreciate that.
Testing
“He’s not too fussy on the ground, it’s going to be very testing but. he’s getting plenty of weight off the top horses and Olive takes another 7lb off his back.
“I had quite a funny conversation with Paul, I called him and said ‘well, we’ll end up getting 21lb off you’ and he said ‘mine’s rated 127 and I think he should be rated 137’. I said ‘well that’s not helpful, thanks for that!’. We did have a giggle. “Sandown is a stiff track, the ground will be testing and they’ll need to get every bit of the two and a half. Weight is definitely even more advantageous when you’ve got testing ground.”
Olive is her mother’s assistant as well as an amateur rider and is particularly fond of Thank You Ma’am, aboard whom she will aim to supply an early Mother’s Day gift.
“I’ve promised mum for Mother’s Day we’re going to take Leroy to the next level and hopefully he’ll get a taste for winning as he’s got the ability,” she said.
“He is the yard favourite and is the perfect horse for the club as he has buckets of ability and is unbelievably social.”