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Paul Nicholls
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Nicholls, the son of a policeman, was born on April 17, 1962, and has been training at Manor Farm Stables in Ditcheat, Somerset, since taking out a licence on November 1, 1991.
He started out in racing as a jump jockey and twice rode the winner of the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury - in 1986 on Broadheath and a year later on Playschool, both sent out by Devon trainer David Barons.
Nicholls partnered 130 winners between 1980 and 1989, struggling always to keep his weight down, and nominates the best horses he rode as Broadheath, Playschool and Seagram.
Between 1989 and 1991, he was assistant trainer to Barons, who sent out Seagram to win the 1991 Grand National at Aintree during that time. He started out at Paul Barber's Manor Farm with eight horses.
Having strongly challenged Martin Pipe for the jump trainers' championship over a number of years, most notably when pushing his great rival right to the last day of the 2004/05 campaign, Nicholls claimed his first title the following season, being responsible for 148 winners and gaining over £2.4 million in prize money.
He retained the title the next season with 124 successes and nearly £2,950,000 in prize money. The hugely talented Kauto Star was the stable's flag bearer, with victories in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park, Sandown's Tingle Creek Chase, the King George VI Chase at Kempton, Newbury's AON Chase and the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup. Kauto Star thus became the first horse to land the Betfair Million, the huge bonus put by the leading betting exchange for success in the Betfair Chase, King George VI Chase and totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.
In the 2007/08 season, Kauto Star was runner-up in the Gold Cup but Nicholls also trained his conqueror, the mighty Denman, and ended up champion trainer again with 151 winners and over £3.6 million in prize money.
In the 2008/09 season, Nicholls was champion again with his best tally yet of 155 winners and just under £3.5million in prize money. That season, Kauto Star landed a third King George VI Chase and became the first horse to reclaim the Gold Cup when defeating Denman by 13 lengths.
Nicholls pulled off the amazing feat of saddling seven winners and three seconds from his 10 runners on Saturday, November 7, 1998, and made history when he became the first trainer to saddle six winners on the same card, at Wincanton, his local track, on Saturday, January 21, 2006.
Another high point in his training career came at the 1999 Cheltenham Festival when he captured the major chase on each of the three days Flagship Uberalles scored in The Irish Independent Arkle Chase, Call Equiname in the Queen Mother Champion Chase the following day and, best of all, See More Business took the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Nicholls has trained 25 Cheltenham Festival winners in total, and was the most successful trainer at The Festival in 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2009, as well as Kauto Star’s triumph, he saddled Master Minded to a second win in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, while Big Buck’s captured the staying hurdlers’ crown when wining the Ladbrokes World Hurdle. Other highlights at The Festival so far include Azertyuiop’s victories in The Irish Independent Arkle Trophy and the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase,
Paul is currently the second most successful current trainer at The Festival behind Nicky Henderson and is sixth on the all-time list. He is the most successful current handler in totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup with four victories and if he were to land the 2010 renewal, he would join the late Tom Dreaper, trainer of the legendary Arkle, as the race’s winning most handler. His feat in 2009 of saddling the winners of the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle and the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup had only been achieved once before (by Jim Dreaper in 1975).
His 1,000th British winner came when Noble Action won at Folkestone on November 15, 2004. This season he has saddled Denman to land a second Hennessy Gold Cup under top-weight, while Kauto Star became the first horse to win the King George VI Chase for a fourth consecutive year.
PAUL NICHOLLS' 25 CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL SUCCESSES
Year Horse Age/Wgt Jockey Owner SP
totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup
1999 See More Business 9-12-00 Mick Fitzgerald Paul Barber & John Keighley 16/1
2007 Kauto Star 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh Clive Smith 5/4F
2008 Denman 8-11-10 Sam Thomas Paul Barber & Maggie Findlay 9/4
2009 Kauto Star 9-11-10 Ruby Walsh Clive Smith 7/4F
Queen Mother Champion Chase
1999 Call Equiname 9-12-00 Mick Fitzgerald Mick Coburn, Paul Barber, Colin Lewis 7/2
2004 Azertyuiop 7-11-10 Ruby Walsh John Hales 15/8
2008 Master Minded 5-11-10 Ruby Walsh Clive Smith 3/1
2009 Master Minded 6-11-10 Ruby Walsh Clive Smith 4/11F
Ryanair Chase
2005 Thisthatandtother 9-11-03 Ruby Walsh Graham Roach 9/2
2007 Taranis 6-11-00 Ruby Walsh Mrs A B Yeoman & C R Whittaker 9/2
Irish Independent Arkle Chase
1999 Flagship Uberalles 5-11-00 Joe Tizzard Elisabeth Gutner & Michael
Krysztofiak 11/1
2003 Azertyuiop 6-11-08 Ruby Walsh John Hales 5/4F
Royal & SunAlliance Chase
2006 Star De Mohaison 5-10-08 Barry Geraghty Sir Robert Ogden 14/1
2007 Denman 7-11-04 Ruby Walsh Harry Findlay & Paul Barber 6/5F
Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle
2004 Sporazene 5-10-13 Ruby Walsh Ged Mason & David Jackson 7/1J
2006 Desert Quest 4-10-10 Ruby Walsh Margaret Findlay 4/1J
2009 American Trilogy 5-11-00 Ruby Walsh Fulton, Donlon, Kilduff & Scott-MacDonald 20/1
Cheltenham Grand Annual Chase Challenge Cup (Handicap Chase)
2004 St Pirran 9-10-01 Ruby Walsh Graham Roach 4/1F
Christie's Foxhunter Chase
2004 Earthmover 13-12-00 Miss Rilly Goschen Roger Penny 14/1
2005 Sleeping Night 9-12-00 Mr Colman Sweeney D J & F A Jackson 7/2F
Spinal Research Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
Year Horse Age/Wgt Jockey Owner SP
2006 Noland 5-11-07 Ruby Walsh John Hales 6/1
JCB Triumph Hurdle
Year Horse Age/Wgt Jockey Owner SP
2008 Celestial Halo 4-11-00 Ruby Walsh The Stewart Family 5/1
Jewson Novices’ Handicap Chase
Year Horse Age/Wgt Jockey Owner SP
2009 Chapoturgeon 5-10-11 Timmy Murphy David Johnson 8/1
Ladbrokes World Hurdle
Year Horse Age/Wgt Jockey Owner SP
2009 Big Buck’s 6-11-10 Ruby Walsh The Stewart Family 6/1
KAUTO STAR (FR) 16/03/07
7 b g Village Star (FR) - Kauto Relka (FR) (Port Etienne (FR))
Form: 211/1F2353/112/21F/111111/211122/1U111-11 Owner: Clive Smith Breeder: Mme H Aubert
A Grade Three winner over hurdles at Auteuil when trained in France, Kauto Star has developed into one of the greatest chasers the sport has ever known since arriving at Paul Nicholls’ stables in 2004. His six straight wins in the 2006/2007 season included a stunning Grade One four timer that culminated in an impressive totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup victory. Last season he became the first horse ever to regain the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup and this term he enjoyed another slice of history as the first to win four consecutive renewals of the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day at Kempton Park.
He made his British debut at Newbury, in December, 2004, with an emphatic victory over Grade One Irish Champion Hurdle winner Foreman in a novice chase. On his next start, at Exeter in January, 2005, he fell two out with the race at his mercy. After being remounted, he just failed to reel in the winner, but it came to light afterwards that the horse had injured his near hind leg and he was forced to miss the rest of the season.
Kauto Star reappeared in November, 2005, turning in a fine comeback effort to chase home Monkerhostin in the Grade Two William Hill Gold Cup Chase at Exeter. He improved on that run to win the Grade One Tingle Creek Trophy Chase over two miles at Sandown the following month. The Grade One Queen Mother Champion Chase at The Festival in March was Kauto Star's next port of call but, after tracking the leaders in the early stages, he took off too early at the third fence and hit the deck.
He returned to action in the 2006/2007 season at Aintree in October, 2006, over two and a half miles in the Grade Two Old Roan Chase and romped home by 21 lengths. A month later, he defeated the best three mile chasers around when easily taking the Betfair Chase at Haydock by 17 lengths, before showing himself to be one of the most adaptable top class chasers of recent times when cruising to a second victory in the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase over two miles at Sandown a fortnight later. Clive Smith's gelding evoked memories of Desert Orchid as he went directly from that triumph to capture the 2006 King George VI Chase over three miles at Kempton on Boxing Day. Ruby Walsh sat tight to survive a last fence blunder and the pair finished eight lengths clear of the chasing Exotic Dancer. Another final fence error made life more difficult again for the pair in the Grade Two Aon Chase at Newbury, but he rallied to hold the determined challenge of L'Ami by a neck. A hot favourite for the 2007 totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, he did not disappoint. Ruby Walsh struck the front two fences out and, despite hitting the last hard, Kauto Star stormed up the hill to prevail comfortably from Exotic Dancer. Kauto Star thus collected the Betfair Million bonus by winning the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park and the totesport Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
The 2007/08 campaign also began with the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, but the champion found conceding a stone to the talented Monet's Garden just a length and a half beyond him. He improved for the run to land the 2007 Betfair Chase for a second year running by half a length from Exotic Dancer and went on to win the King George VI Chase again, scoring by 11 lengths from Our Vic. He dropped back to two miles, five and a half furlongs in the Commercial First Chase at Ascot in February but that proved no problem and he won by eight lengths from Monet’s Garden. The chance of winning a second Betfair Million bonus was lost in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup in March when his stable companion Denman proved seven lengths too strong. Kauto Star’s jumping was not as fluent as usual and that theme continued at Aintree the following month when a bad mistake two out cost him victory by a nose in the totesport Bowl which was won by Our Vic.
Kauto Star had a long break and reappeared in the Grade One Jnwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal in Northern Ireland on November 1, 2008, when he won unchallenged. He then unseated Sam Thomas at the last fence in the Betfair Chase at Haydock 17 days later. Normal service was resumed at Kempton on Boxing Day, when he won his third King George VI Chase by 10 lengths from Albertas Run. He was rested before returning to Cheltenham and an historic second victory in the 2009 totesport Gold Cup, beating Denman by 13 lengths in tremendous style
As in the past, Kauto Star was a little rusty for his reappearance this season. That came in the Betfair Chase but the champion was still able to win, albeit by only a nose, from Imperial Commander - his third success in the race. He then added a fourth King George VI Chase with as stunning a performance as one could wish to see. Kauto Star jumped exquisitely and drew clear down the finishing straight for a 36-length romp. Kauto Star has his 10th birthday on March 19 - totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup day - and is aiming to become the fifth horse to win the chasing’s championship race three times.
Race Record - Starts: 33; 1st: 20; 2nd: 7; 3rd: 2; Win & Place Prize Money: £2,012,654
