Allez Nicholls!
PAUL NICHOLLS is to go after some of the top Paris prizes this winter.
After two successful forays in the spring, picking up £ 128,000 with Celestial Halo – his fi rst winner in France – and Ptit Zig, he will be heading back to Auteuil on November 10 with Far West.
The target is the £ 229,000 Prix Renaud Du Vivier, the French end- ofyear, four- year- old championship.
Nicholls has enjoyed considerable success with ex- French horses like Kauto Star, Big Buck’s, Neptune Collonges and Master Minded, but has rarely gone back across the Channel to plunder their prizes – until this year.
He said: “I am lucky to have three of the top hurdlers of their age – Far West, Ptit Zig and Sametegal. It would be silly not to send at least one over for that sort of money and at this stage I envisage it being Far West.
“He was second in the JCB Triumph Hurdle, a place ahead of last Saturday’s Cheltenham winner Sametegal.
“Both would be the equal of Ptit Zig, who was third in the Fred Winter Hurdle before his second in the French Summer Triumph Hurdle.
“You need a horse that can handle the heavy ground at Auteuil and both Far West and Ptit Zig ran well there before they came to me.”
A UK runner covers its transport costs if it fi nishes in the fi rst seven in France, with prize money of £ 5,720 for the seventh horse home. Others to have already performed well at Auteuil that Nicholls could also consider running in Paris include Unioniste, Sanctuaire and Cedre Bleu.
The Ditcheat- based trainer has already said that Celestial Halo will go back to Paris for the Prix La Barka which he won last May.
Nicholls won seven consecutive domestic jump trainers’ titles before being knocked off his perch last season by a resurgent Nicky Henderson.
Nicholls is leading UK trainer in France in 2013 with Nick Williams, another regular visitor, in second place.