Paul Nicholls Cheltenham Tour

Find out what Paul Nicholls makes of his squad for the Cheltenham Festival - in his own words!

Aux Ptits Soins

Aux Ptits Soins is almost certain to run in the Coral Cup. I don’t know too much about him but he’s going to make a lovely chaser. He goes well at home and he’s run twice and won twice in France so he’s going to have to go for a handicap, which will probably be the Coral Cup. He worked well with Lac Fontana at Kempton this morning.

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 on Hennessy day where again he ran very nicely. He runs in the Fred Winter and is one of the favourites. He just keeps improving, we haven’t had him that long really but he keeps going forward. He’s rated 133 and if there’s plenty of cut in the ground, against juveniles which he hasn’t done this season, he must have a great chance. Obviously the Fred Winter is a very competitive race, but the horses we’ve run in the race recently have run really tidily. We won it with Sanctuaire a couple of years ago. This horse is going to be a chaser next season, he’ll be an awesome horse to go chasing with in the autumn.

Caid Du Berlais

He won the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in November and he ran well there the last day over 2m 5f at Christmas. He just got in tight to the second last which made all the difference between winning and losing. He does like decent ground and I’ve kept him fresh, he will almost certainly run in the handicap over 2m 5f [the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate]. He’ll be near the top of the weights but that won’t matter and the 2m 5f will suit him nicely. He’s not like a lot of ours in that he’s lean, slighter, but he’s always run well at Cheltenham, in the Fred Winter and then the boys' race last year, and he’ll give a good account of himself in the Festival Plate.

Calipto

He ran well in the Betfair Hurdle the other day at Newbury and was unlucky in the Triumph last season when the saddle broke under Daryl [Jacob]. He made a noise at Cheltenham in October so he had a breathing operation and we put him away until Newbury. If we could run the race again we’d have ridden him a lot more prominently but he stayed on strongly into fourth place and the obvious race for him is the County Hurdle. He’s still on a nice mark of 143 and he’s still unexposed in a lot of ways. He’ll be chasing in the autumn but I still think there’s plenty of scope for him to improve over hurdles. He’s not unlike Lac Fontana, who won the County last year, and he’s a horse with a nice future.

Dodging Bullets

On form this year he deserves to be favourite for the Champion Chase, but he’s not. He’s had a fantastic season, he needed his first run at Cheltenham the first day, he improved all the way through the autumn and won the Tingle Creek nicely and then went and beat Sprinter Sacre at Ascot. The nice thing about that day was Noel [Fehily] said he had plenty left in the tank at the end. He likes soft ground, he wouldn’t want the ground too dry at Cheltenham as I think stamina is his forte over two. He’s a real staying two-miler. The track on the Old Course which the Champion Chase is run on I always think is an easy two, where as at Sandown where he’s won his a stiff two, that’s the only concern I’ve got. They’re obviously going to go a good gallop. He’s in really good oder with himself at the moment, last year he had a few problems but we’ve sorted those out now. His form tailed off in the spring as he was suffering from a few ulcers and other things but we’ve sorted that out. He worked great this morning and he’s bang on schedule. I’m very very happy with him.

Hinterland

He worked at Kempton this morning and bled so I’ve scratched him from the Champion Chase.

Lac Fontana

Lac Fontana worked at Kempton this morning with Aux Ptits Soins.  We’ll see what the ground does for Lac Fontana. If it’s soft we’ll run in the County Hurdle and if it’s decent ground he’ll run in the Coral Cup as well. Lac Fontana is a good spring horse and always comes good at this time of year. He won the County Hurdle last year and he’s in good shape.

Le Mercurey

He’s entered in a couple of the handicaps, he’s in the Coral Cup and he’s in the boys race [Martin Pipe Conditionals' Handicap Hurdle] and I suspect he’ll end up in the Martin Pipe race. He was two from three in France last season and was unlucky not to win three. He ended up with a rating of 149, whereas L’Ami Serge who was fairly close to him ended up with 130, so how they came up with a mark of 149 for this horse is beyond me. He ran okay in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury, we didn’t really have him tuned up that day and he couldn’t possibly win off 149 on his first run in England. He was dropped 5lb after that and ran very nicely at Ascot the next day, finishing fourth, some people thought it was an eyecatching run and he’s progressing in his ways. I wouldn’t mind him [having a handicap mark] a few pounds less than he’s probably got, but he ran so well at Ascot he wasn’t going to drop him and he has to run off 144. He’ll run in the Martin Pipe race I think, almost certainly, and that will be his last run of the season. He’ll then go chasing next season, which is what we bought him for. He jumps fences beautifully. He’s the future for us, but he’s one for the Martin Pipe at the Festival. Either Jack Sherwood or Sean Bowen will ride - I haven’t sorted it yet.

Mr Mole

He’s another massive improver and goes for the Champion Chase. We dropped him back in trip and he won a Graduation Chase at Exeter over two miles, then he won nicely at Sandown and then he won the Game Spirit the other day at Newbury. Master Minded followed that route, winning the Sandown handicap, won the Game Spirit and then the Champion Chase in the same year so I hope that’s a good omen. He’s hugely talented, we’ve always thought a lot of him and mentally he’s improved this year. We’ve learnt a lot about him, AP’s worked out that he likes to bowl along and he’s not ungenuine this horse, he’s just a bit of a character. The tapes brushed across his nose at Newbury and he whipped round and lost ground, but he still won the race really nicely and he’s on a roll at the moment. He’s got a great chance, it’s a very open Champion Chase this year. The big two have question marks over them, obviously Sire De Grugy was very impressive on Saturday but there are some improving horses against them and he’s one of them.

Ptit Zig

He went upside down at Ascot about 10 days ago, but until then he’d had a fantastic season winning four novice chases on the trot. He won well at Ascot, then the Dipper at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, and he was travelling beautifully when he got tight to one fence and came down. The plus side is he hadn’t gone far so he didn’t have a hard race and he’ll learn from that that he can’t make mistakes. He worked nicely this morning, we gave him an easy week after Ascot and we’ve stepped up his work now. He’ll school on Monday just to sharpen him up but he’s had a great season. Obviously he’s a high-class horse, he won a Grade One at Auteuil and all horse are entitled to make a mistake. He’ll learn from it and we’re happy with him.

Rocky Creek

The handicapper has put him up 9lb for winning at Kempton on Saturday, so in effect he’s 9lb well-in in the National. Whether that means anything or not, that’s up to you guys. Obviously he won very well on Saturday and we always aimed this season to aim for the National. After he didn’t run so well in the Hennessy this year we didn’t bother entering him for Cheltenham but it’s probably just as well as we’d have been tempted to run. At his best he’s right on the fringes of the Gold Cup and he might be able to do that next year. This year, Aintree has always been the target. He’s come out of the race well, he won very well in the last year when working his way to the front and he just faded. A breathing op in the summer has helped that and on Saturday he was at his very best. Saturday was the first time we’d had him really where we wanted him and we’re looking forward to Aintree.

Saphir Du Rheu

He’s one of the favourites for the Ladbrokes World Hurdle along with Zarkandar, and with More Of That and Beat That out of the race, they are two of my best chances. Saphir Du Rheu ended up last season rated 165 over hurdles and then we went chasing with him. Unfortunately he parted company with Sam [Twiston-Davies] first time, won well at Exeter the next day and then had a fall at Kempton over Christmas. So we thought he’s still a young horse, the World Hurdle is wide open we’ll try him back over hurdles. He won the Cleeve Hurdle as you know, staying on really strongly up the hill and he’s at the forefront of the betting after that. He gallops and jumps, I think there’s a lot of improvement to come from that Cleeve Hurdle, especially as he hadn’t had a run for a while as he fell, his jumping will sharpen up and I’m very pleased with the way he is at the moment. He goes there with a leading chance. Sam’s decided to ride him rather than Zarkandar, but that was a close call. He loves this horse and thinks perhaps he might win a Gold Cup on him. Whereas Big Buck’s would never jump a fence, this lad will jump fences in the future and we’ll be doing that again sometime - he’s a big, scopey chasing horse.

Sam Winner

He runs in the Gold Cup and has done nothing but improve this year. He won at Cheltenham, won at Aintree – where I’ve heard all sorts of excuses from the beaten connections. I can assure you if there had been more fences jumped he’d have won even easier. We sent him to Ireland for the Lexus where he ran third to Road To Riches and it was probably a career best. He was actually in front halfway up the run in and he goes well fresh, loves Cheltenham and he’s a real lively outsider for the Gold Cup. The Giant Bolster is a good example of an outsider who can run really nicely in the race and this horse is similar as better ground, Cheltenham and going there fresh can bring out the best in him. Look at the Lexus form, Carlingford Lough was fifth and he was third, Road To Riches won it and he’s second-favourite, he was only three lengths in front of him. So on form he’s got a good chance of hitting the frame. He’s in the National as well. He might end up running there but he definitely runs in the Gold Cup first.

Silviniaco Conti

I think this horse looks way better in his coat than he did this time last year. He’s in really good order and he’s just been out second lot and done some really hard work, but you wouldn’t know it seeing him. He won the Betfair Chase very nicely in first-time cheekpieces, I put those on as he was just racing a bit lazily, then he won the King George very nicely, a career best, making all the running and winning very nicely. What he’s doing this year, which he didn’t do last year, is finishing off his races strongly. We found out after he won at Aintree last year that he was suffering from gastric ulcers. We’ve been on top of that now and it’s obviously made a difference, along with the cheekpieces which have got him jumping sharper and stopped him being lazy. He had a racecourse gallop about 10 days ago at Wincanton with Sam Winner and Rocky Creek and went very nicely, so we are where we want to be with him. A lot of people said I should’ve given him another run but this will be his fourth run of the season and I think when Denman, Kauto Star and even See More Business won the Gold Cup it was their fourth runs of the season. He’s very fit, looks fantastic, is big and strong and we’re very happy with the way he’s going, we just need to get through the next 10 days or so. He’s been very unlucky at Cheltenham in a lot of ways. He ran very well once there in the Bula, was going very well when he fell at the third last in the Gold Cup two years ago and last year he jumped the last in front, so you can’t say he doesn’t act there. We’re happier with him now. He’s stronger and on form he’s the one they’ve got to beat.

Sire Collonges

He’ll run in the Cross-Country race as he ran well there in the autumn and we’ve kept him back for that.

Southfield Theatre

He goes for the RSA Chase and has had a great season, winning three from four over fences. He was second at Newbury on ground that was too soft for him but he won well at Exeter the other week. That was his prep race for Cheltenham over 2m 3f, idling a bit up the run in, but he’s done well from the back of the last and that’s put him right for Cheltenham. He ran well in the Pertemps Final last season, carrying a big weight and he was beaten literally on the line. He jumps well, looks really fantastic and the RSA has always been his target. He’s going to be a cracking three mile chaser next year.

Vibrato Valtat

He’s one of the most improved horses in training and he’s a shining example of what a breathing operation can do for a horse. He was struggling with his breathing a little bit last year, not finishing his races, everybody thought he was ungenuine and we knew what it was, and we sorted his breathing out in the summer. He had his first run over hurdles at Cheltenham as a prep, but he’s been pretty much unbeaten over fences since - he should be unbeaten anyway. He’s done nothing but improve over fences, he’s rated 153 now and he was very impressive at Warwick the other day in the Kingmaker. He jumps, he travels and he’s improving. He runs in the Arkle and if Un De Sceaux wasn’t in there we’d be red-hot favourite. It’s all about jumping in that race, they are going to go a gallop and it’ll be a bit different to some of these three or four-runner races. The Arkle is going to be a true gallop, plenty of runners and that won’t do this lad any harm. We can ride him more positively now, we don’t have to worry about him being in front too soon and he’s going to make a real smart two-mile chaser.

Vivaldi Collonges

He runs in the four-miler. He was second to King’s Palace at Newbury the other day and this is a nice race for him.

Wonderful Charm

He runs in the Ryanair and has loads of talent. He won first time out at Newton Abbot, was second to Don Cossack at Down Royal on ground that was far too soft for him and then he ran okay in the Peterborough Chase. I shouldn’t have run him in the King George. I’ve purposely kept him fresh for Cheltenham since. He had all sorts of prolems with his foot and didn’t run to his best at Kempton, but he’s fine now, working well, goes well fresh and he could run a big race at a big price in the Ryanair. He wouldn’t want the ground too soft, but if it’s decent ground he’ll run a tidy race.

Zarkandar

He’s had a great season this year, winning the French Champion Hurdle in the autumn and he got beat a short head in the Long Walk when pulling himself up in front which is something he’ll always do. If Sam rode the race again he’d do it a bit differently. I’ve purposely kept him fresh for Cheltenham as he’s so much better when he’s fresh. Last year was a bit of an afterthought when he finished fourth, but this year we’ve trained him just for this race and I’m very happy with him. He worked really hard this morning and he’s still bright and sparky and he’s got a fantastic chance in the World Hurdle. I suspect Noel [Fehily] will ride him but we haven’t sorted it yet.