Paul Nichols and the Cheltenham Festival

17 Feb 2010

There is little doubt that Paul Nichols will notch up some interesting results at the forthcoming Cheltenham Festival. Certainly there is little doubt that one of his horses will win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Everybody believes that this will be a two horse race and as these two horses Kauto Star and Denman are both trained by Nichols then he is in with a good chance.

On Saturday in the Aon Chase at Newbury all did not look good for the new pairing of Tony McCoy and Denman. The two of them parted company over a fence in the latter stages of the race, which is somewhat concerning.

Tony McCoy said that until that point Denman had been jumping well albeit a little hesitantly at the beginning. He said that he felt that they had not been fast enough, so he increased the pace subtlety but was unable to shake off the following horse, Niche Market who then began to make ground and Denman was unable to hold him off, then Denman slipped after making heavy of a late fence. Tony McCoy subsequently said that he had been disappointed with the horse; perhaps Tony McCoy had been similarly disappointed with McCoy.

It seems that this incident puts clear air between the two horses and Kauto Star is now the clear favourite. Certainly the odds have shifted with Kauto Star now at 4/5 with Paddy power and Denman at 7/2 with Bet Fred. Perhaps it is a one horse race after all.

Nicholls has another six horses in the Gold Cup and has two of the top rated horses in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. These are Master Minded and Twist Magic. Master Minded is the favourite at 5/6 with SportingBet and Twist Magic is the third favourite as 13/2 with William Hill.

It looks as if it is going to be yet another excellent Festival for Nichols.

All odds correct at time of writing and are subject to change