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It is an indication of the exceptionally high standards at Paul Nicholls’s Ditcheat yard over the past quarter of a century that two third-place finishes in the jumps trainers’ championship, with at least £2.5m banked in prize money in each campaign, have prompted something of a reset before the new season over jumps, which begins in earnest at Cheltenham on Friday.
Nicholls will have three assistants at the stable this season, including his daughter Olive while his oldest daughter, Megan, has also joined the team and is sourcing new recruits for Ditcheat. Nicholls has won 14 titles and trained more than 3,800 winners since taking out a licence in 1991.
It is a fresh challenge for Megan Nicholls, who rode 110 winners on the Flat before carving out a career as a presenter on ITV Racing and Racing TV. It is a natural development of an interest in breeding and bloodstock from her riding career rather than an entirely new departure.
“You’re looking for horses every day,” she says. “It’s not a new thing for me. When I rode on the Flat I was interested in the pedigrees and that side of things. While I was buying more horses on the Flat initially, I’ve been working alongside my cousin, Harry Derham, and Dan Skelton as well. It just depends which horse is suitable for which team.
“We’ve bought a few young horses that probably won’t be on the track this season, or until the spring, but we’ve also filled the orders that were there [from owners] and [bloodstock agents] Anthony Bromley and Tom Malone have been involved and continuing to buy.
“I’m not going to be taking over the whole thing, I’ll just be more involved and it’s opened it up to the floor a bit more. We’ll be trying to find the right horses for the various owners that Dad has rather than it just being a one-man band.”
Several promising horses switched from Ditcheat to rival yards over the summer, including Ginny’s Destiny, a three-time winner at Cheltenham in the 2023-24 season, and the promising hurdler Kabral Du Mathan. “We’d done well for them [Gordon and Su Hall, the owners of Ginny’s Destiny] and I thought we were good friends,” Paul Nicholls told Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday. “I didn’t get a phone call, I just got a text to say they weren’t coming back.”
The owners that have remained loyal have been a priority over the summer, although competing with the sourcing and purchasing might of rivals such as Willie Mullins, the reigning champion over jumps in Britain and Ireland, is increasingly difficult.
“It’s a case of rebuilding confidence for the owners,” Megan says. “Getting them horses that can win and trying to just move with the times a little bit. The good horses are one, very expensive and two, get snapped up very quickly, so you’ve got to have someone who’s ready to strike.
“You don’t get them all the time because not everyone’s always ready. It’s just a game of patience and when we do have someone ready, we find them the right horse.
“When you’re trying to buy a horse, you’re not thinking about anyone else. You’re trying to buy it because you like it, not because you’re trying to outdo someone else. You’ve got to stick to your guns and to what you think is right. Just because you think someone else is interested, that doesn’t mean you should up your bid.”
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Her checklist when looking at a possible purchase changes according to the code. “It’s physical over pedigree certainly over jumps,” she says, “because you’re not looking for a stallion at the end of the day. The physical side of things is a priority. I want them to be as correct as possible through their limbs and an athletic type of horse.
“I don’t like really big, heavy horses. I prefer a more athletic model, but other people do often prefer the very big, typical ‘three-mile chaser’ if you like. But soundness is key and if you can buy a horse that has a heart and willingness to go with it, you’re halfway there.”
The Nicholls stable is less than 100 winners away from overtaking Martin Pipe’s all-time record of 3,930 jumps winners in Britain and on course to become the first to saddle 4,000 within a couple of years. At present, though, a record-equalling 15th championship is a more distant prospect.
“Willie has got a phenomenal group of horses at the moment,” Megan says, “and there’s other strong teams too, like Dan Skelton, Gordon Elliott and Nicky Henderson, and Olly Murphy’s coming through, so I think Dad’s main aim now would be to get the 4,000 winners.
“Do I believe that it’s possible for him to win the championship again? Probably not. But do I believe we can still have high-quality and top-class horses within the stable that are winning and being very competitive in top-class races? Yes, absolutely.”
