3 minute read
The sun was shining brightly this morning as nine-time champion Jump trainer Paul Nicholls paraded 12 horses of his team for The Festival and spoke about a lot more heading to Cheltenham for the highly anticipated four days in March.
The pressure is off this year as he has no high-profile favourites. He was not willing to speculate on the number of winners at The Festival he was hoping to achieve but Nicholls has not had a blank year since 2002.
His 37 successes at The Festival mean that he has had tremendous experience of what is needed to get on the score board among the 28 races between Tuesday, March 15 and Friday, March 18.
He said: "The first horse, in no particular order or significance, is Politologue. He is a fine big grey horse and won a Listed novice hurdle at Exeter last week, basically an egg and spoon race in the end, and he won by 59 lengths. He was second in the Challow before that.
"He is in the Neptune Novices' Hurdle still but almost certainly will run in the Coral Cup. He is a really nice horse - he may not be as well handicapped as Aux Ptits Soins last year but he will run well in the Coral Cup. I don't know if he is well handicapped off 142 but he will run a tidy race. It took a bit of time for him to acclimatise.
"Whatever he does, he is going to be an awesome chaser next season. He is getting better and better and could not have more won any more easily at Exeter. He won on very heavy the other day but I suspect, like many others, will appreciate better ground.
"Saphir Du Rheu finished second in last year's World Hurdle and then he went chasing and won the Grade One at Aintree.
"The idea was to go for the Hennessy this season and he won an intermediate chase at Carlisle. He ran OK in the Hennessy off 11st 12lb to finish fifth on very testing ground. He travelled well to two out and then didn't really finish. He did not run any race in the Long Walk just before Christmas and faded.
"We were always suspicious of his breathing and straight after Ascot he had a breathing operation - we cauterised his soft palate, which Silviniaco Conti had done after the King George, and that has helped him.
"His best runs last season were on decent ground so on better ground I think you will see him in a completely different light. He ran very well in last year's World Hurdle and obviously is a high-class horse.
"He has been working with Aux Ptits Soins for the last six weeks and they have had a racecourse gallop (Wincanton) and will have another one next week. I am very pleased with him. He still looked fat in the Hennessy - we had a hell of a job just getting weight off him but he is very fit and well now and I am really pleased with his progress.
"If we get good spring ground at Cheltenham, like it was last year, he and the horse who won it last year (Cole Harden) will be big players again in the World Hurdle. He is getting stronger and ultimately will go back chasing."
The trainer then paraded Le Mercurey who finished third in the Grade Two Reynoldstown Novices' Chase at Ascot on Saturday.
Nicholls explained: "He is the RSA Chase and the three-mile handicap on the first day, the Ultima. He went up 7lb for running so well at Ascot on Saturday and is now on the mark of 147. I think the last two winners of the RSA were rated 146 and 147 if I am not mistaken.
"He probably ran a career best on Saturday and looked like winning until the last. He just propped at the last and landed in a heap, finishing third. I put cheek pieces on him on Saturday and he was much more enthusiastic.
"If we run him at all at Cheltenham, I suspect it will be in the RSA and I hope the ground is soft - he loves soft ground."
Dodging Bullets won one of the feature championship races at The Festival last year, the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
A splint held up his preparation this season and he has only had one run - at Newbury in the G2 Betfair Exchange Chase on February 13, when second, beaten 10 lengths by Top Gamble.
The trainer said: "It has been a nightmare with Dodge all season until he ran the other day.
"He was beat first time out last year and needed the run at Newbury. He is a very good work horse at home and you probably feel he is more forward than he is.
"He had a long time off before Newbury where he travelled well until three out and then got tired in the ground. He needed the run more than we thought. He has improved a lot for that and likes Cheltenham and better ground.
"He has a mountain to climb to beat Un De Sceaux who looks very good. I think all the others are much of a muchness and am hopeful of an improved run.
"Vibrato Valtat has had a good season. He won the Haldon Gold Cup and ran solid races in the Tingle Creek and Clarence House Chase. Two miles is sharp enough for him - he is always flat out - and I am going to step him up in trip to the Ryanair Chase and think two miles and five furlongs will suit him very well.
"He is a better horse nice and fresh. He keeps on trying and he will run a good race in the Ryanair."
Aux Ptits Soins, who won the Coral Cup at The Festival last year, goes for the Grade One Ryanair World Hurdle on St Patrick's Thursday, March 17.
Nicholls said: "He is a very smart horse and is unbeaten over hurdles. It has been a nightmare training him this season as he had an infection in his foot, then a sinus problem which he had surgery for and two lots of surgery on a tooth.
"So he had three lots of surgery before Christmas, which was not ideal. He had a month on a water treadmill back at his owner's place (John Hales). He came to us on January 1 and he has had one racecourse gallop already with Saphir Du Rheu and he will also run in the World Hurdle. Obviously, I would have liked to have run him so we are on the back foot a little bit but he is coming on nicely.
"He won the Coral Cup in effect first time up but it is a big ask to go on from winning a handicap off 139 to taking a Grade One. He will be chasing next season. He has got loads of pace and the trip must be a question mark though all by his sire stay well. He looks fantastic."
Old Guard goes for the Grade One Stan James Champion Hurdle on the opening day, Champion Day, Tuesday, March 15.
The trainer commented: "He is a lively outsider for the Champion Hurdle. He looks really well. If I hadn't run him at Kempton on Boxing Day he would be a lot shorter price, having won three races at Cheltenham this season.
"I probably should not have run him in the Christmas Hurdle but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He has had a month off to freshen him up. He can go to Cheltenham fresh and he will love better ground. If you can forgive him his last run, he has a chance of being in the frame. He does like Cheltenham and is still improving."
The going on all course at Cheltenham is currently Good to Soft, Soft in places. The forecast is for dry weather until the early part of next week, with pretty severe frosts overnight - it was minus 6 degrees Celsius at the racecourse this morning. There is then likely to a band of rain, Tuesday into Wednesday, next week.
