Nicholls is pure magic

Nicholls is pure magic

Racing
Michael Duffy

ABOUT twenty miles of Somerset countryside separate the National Hunt stables of Paul Nicholls and the Pipes, but not for a decade have they been so far apart.
Martin Pipe revolutionised the training of jumpers. He trained them hard, very hard, and with Pipe’s runners holding a distinct advantage over others when it came to fitness, he dominated the racing world.
From 1988, for 15 of the next 17 years, Pipe was champion trainer and no-one looked at his success with more envy than Paul Nicholls. But while some glanced judgementally over the fence at Pipe’s training techniques and turned their noses up, Nicholls set about replicating them. If getting his horses fitter was the key, well that’s exactly what he was going to do.
Seven times Nicholls finished second to Martin Pipe before finally succeeding with a coup d’etat in 2006 and retaining power in last year’s race for the trainer’s title. Those days in Pipe’s shadow weren’t all dark. See More Business won the Cheltenham Gold Cup for him in 1999, a day after Call Equiname took the Champion Chase at the Festival.
And with every horse now apparently leaving his Ditcheat stable for the races with this unstoppable swagger, unless Kauto Star, Denman, Twist Magic and co hit the beer hard between now and May of next year, Nicholls will surely make it three successive championships.
Nicholls is different. He is affable, very passionate and driven. In his Saturday column in the Racing Post he displays an honesty that is unusual in a sport couched in surreptitiousness. He is refreshingly straight about how he sees his runners faring, and in doing so Nicholls shows a respect to the ordinary punter that is rare among the racing fraternity.
A failed marriage in his early 40s bears testament to his unbending work ethic. “It’s hard enough to have a relationship when you’re trying to train 100 horses, keep your owners happy and deal with all these other people depending on you for their livelihood. So I think it’s probably best that I live alone,” he told the Guardian newspaper in April of 2005.
Of course his stables have mushroomed since then, and with the quantity came plenty of quality. The addition of Ruby Walsh, arguably one of the greatest jockeys we have ever seen, has seen Nicholls’ fortunes soar.
Last weekend he unveiled another irresistible Cheltenham championship contender when Twist Magic did nothing but impress when taking a competitive Tingle Creek at Sandown.
On ground he probably wasn’t thrilled with, Twist Magic dispensed of reigning champion Voy Por Ustedes in a manner which left the vanquished without an excuse. Kauto Star and Denman look to have the Gold Cup between them, and now the leading Champion Chase contender shares the same stable.
Meanwhile, down the road David Pipe has made a subdued beginning to his life as a racehorse trainer. To be fair, the quality in Martin Pipe’s Nicholshayne stable was dipping before he handed over the reins to his son in 2006. And, after all, Pipe junior did have a Cheltenham Festival winner in March when Gaspara took the Fred Winter.
But, when once-upon-a-time Pipe senior may have needed binoculars to spot Nicholls in his slipstream, the tables have turned. As we turn our attention to the Christmas racing period (where Kauto Star and Denman are odds-on for the big races) we wonder like we did in the late 80s with Martin Pipe: is there any stopping Paul Nicholls?
one to watch
THE weekend’s big handicap conundrum is the Boylesports Gold Cup at Cheltenham, and Henry Daly’s Palarshan stands out. This race sees plenty of those who ran in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and in the Hennessy, renew acquaintances. He was an unlucky fourth to L’Antartique in the former heat but can be backed at 10/1 for Saturday’s race. Palarshan’s a talented horse who’s had his problems – just ten runs since winning the 2003 Grand Annual Chase backs up that claim. But he loves Prestbury Park and the weekend’s big race is well within his grasp.

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