Paul Nicholls looks a shoe-in for leading trainer at next month’s Cheltenham Festival. On Wednesday Paul Nicholls hosted members of the press at his Ditcheat training base.

Video Courtesy of Sporting Life Website

With the biggest team the Champion trainer certainly holds a very strong hand. Nicholls holds the aces to many of the leading races. He has the favourites for the Gold Cup, World Hurdle and Champion Chase. Nicholls and stable jockey Ruby Walsh are sure to have a very good Cheltenham Festival.

Kauto Star v Denman clash is on for 2010

KAUTO STAR: He looks great and is very forward in himself. After Cheltenham last year we decided not to run him again as we didn’t need to. He runs very well when he’s fresh and fit. When this horse narrowly won the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the improvement he made from that day to the King George was phenomenal. You don’t want these horses at their best in their trial races. Denman’s two targets were the Hennessy and the Gold Cup and Kauto’s two targets were the King George and the Gold Cup. When Ruby Walsh got off at Haydock he said to me ‘he needed it’ and that’s all I wanted to hear. I think his King George win this season was the best he’s ever run. He looks fantastic and I am delighted with his progress. He did a nice bit of work this morning with Denman and the others and we’re just fine-tuning him now. Ruby came over on Saturday and schooled Kauto, Denman, Big Buck’s and Master Minded and we are very happy with where we are with all of them.

DENMAN: I wasn’t too perturbed about what happened the other day at Newbury. They’re not going to win every time. I always think back to two years ago when Kauto Star unseated Sam (Thomas) in the Betfair Chase. It was all doom and gloom but next time he wins the King George pulling a cart. I was very happy with Denman’s run the other day, bar the mistake. If he hadn’t made that mistake he would’ve won simple as that. He was in exactly the same place in the Aon as he was in the Hennessy – if he made the same mistake in the Hennessy he wouldn’t have won there either. If you’d seen in him his racecourse gallop before the Hennessy you wouldn’t have thought he’d be capable of winning an egg-and-spoon race. These sort of days bring him on. Since Newbury he’s been tanking along again, he worked great this morning and he’ll have three weeks of seriously hard graft now. Anyone who writes him off writes him off at their peril. All this nonsense about whether Tony McCoy should ride him or not is the biggest load of twaddle I’ve ever heard. He’s the champion jockey and was just unlucky the other day.

Big Bucks World Hurdle Favourite

BIG BUCK’S: Last year’s Ladbrokes World Hurdle winner has been unbeaten since then, winning at Aintree last season and twice at Newbury this campaign. I purposely didn’t run him in the Cleeve Hurdle because I wanted to keep him nice and fresh. We didn’t need to prove anything after last year and I didn’t want to give him a hard race in that testing ground. He looks absolutely fantastic, is only seven years old and I’m delighted with the way he’s progressing. He’ll be very, very hard to beat. Tidal Bay might be the one to do that as he was impressive the other day, but if Big Buck’s runs up to his best he’ll take the world of beating.

Master Minded firmly heads Champion Chase Market

MASTER MINDED: He looks now like he did two years ago. It’s the best I’ve seen him look for a long time, he looks really fab in his coat. He ran so badly on his reappearance at Cheltenham that we sent him off to Newmarket, found he had a fractured rib, gave him time to get over that and he had six weeks without being ridden. He went 15 miles a day on the walker in that period and he progressed nicely. I didn’t think I’d have time to run him again before Cheltenham but he was obviously doing so well I ran him in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury the other day. He showed all his old form that day, travelled well, jumped really well apart from trying to demolish the last and did it very, very nicely. It was the form he was showing two years ago and I don’t think I ever really had him right last season. He was a nightmare to train as after he won the Tingle Creek he won at Ascot, suffered an injury, was tying up and had lots of little problems. I just don’t think he was ever at his best despite winning at Cheltenham and Punchestown, but I think he is back to his best now and that run the other day proved it.

TWIST MAGIC: Another Champion Chase hopeful, he’s done very well this year winning the Tingle Creek and the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot. The last couple of years in the spring he’s fallen apart and looked dreadful but if you look at him now he’s the best he’s ever been at this time of year. Choc Thornton’s going to ride him in the Champion Chase, he’s ridden him once before and though he fell that day he was a little unlucky. He’s been a bit unlucky at Cheltenham but two years ago he was going as well as anything when he fell in the Arkle and Ruby was adamant he would’ve won that day. Mentally he’s a much better horse and he’s got an outstanding chance in the Champion Chase. Take Master Minded out and he’s got an outstanding chance. He’s been running well on soft ground and I think he prefers it when it’s better.

Twist Magic

TRICKY TRICKSTER: He’s the current favourite for the Grand National and he’s also going to run in the Gold Cup. He won the Aon Chase the other day and that was one of his prep races for the National, as the Gold Cup will be – My Will ran fifth in the Gold Cup last year and went onto finish third in the National. He looks great and each run has brought him on enormously, he showed a great turn of foot in the Aon and won the four-miler at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. Sam Thomas will ride him in the Gold Cup and Ruby will have a choice between him and Big Fella Thanks in the National. I’m delighted with the way he’s progressing, he jumps well and stays forever and although I think he’s got a big chance at Aintree he’s also a dark horse for the Gold Cup.

PEPE SIMO: He’s in the Supreme Novices’ and I ran him in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton behind Go Native and co. He actually ran a good race on ground that was a bit too soft for him and we haven’t run him since. We’ve obviously a mountain to climb if Dunguib is as good as everybody thinks he is and he was very impressive at Leopardstown. I don’t know why everybody is going on about his jumping, it looked fine to me, just a bit lax and he’s going to be very hard to beat. If it dries up Pepe Simo would have an outside chance.

CELESTIAL HALO: He was second in last year’s Champion Hurdle and won the Triumph Hurdle the season before. He’s actually just beginning to come to himself and he’s really good in the spring. I’m sure the key to this horse is decent ground. His two good runs at Cheltenham – his Champion Hurdle second and Triumph Hurdle win – were both on good spring ground and he’s been running on really deep ground this winter. His run last time at Leopardstown was on desperate ground and I actually think that was a better run than last year’s Champion Hurdle prep at Sandown where he just got home that day. He improved enormously from Sandown to Cheltenham last year and I think it was the ground as much as anything and I’m hopeful that a dry spell will spark him into life again. He loves Cheltenham and he ran well there earlier in the season when he gave weight to Khyber Kim. The Champion Hurdle looks a very open race on paper this season and you don’t want them at their best for the trials. We’ll go straight to the Champion Hurdle with him now, but whatever happens at Cheltenham we’ll go novice chasing with him next season. We’ve already schooled him over fences and I think he’ll make a smart novice chaser next term.

POQUELIN: He’s the favourite for the Ryanair Chase and is a bit like Twist Magic in the way he’s left last year’s form behind this season. He won Boylesports Gold Cup at the December meeting and actually ran very well behind Tranquil Sea in the Paddy Power Gold Cup in very soft ground. If it’s a bog in the Ryanair he’s in serious trouble but if we have better ground he’ll have every chance but however he runs he’s improved enormously. Perhaps he had a problem we didn’t pick up on last year like Master Minded because I thought he was a certainty in the Grand Annual but ran no sort of race at all. We’ve purposely targeted him for the spring where he’ll have to races – the Ryanair and the two-and-a-half-mile chase at Aintree.

WOOLCOMBE FOLLY: He’s in the Arkle and has done really well, winning his last five starts, four over hurdles and his first chase the other day. That was at Doncaster on ground that was far too soft for him and it was his first start for a while so I was really pleased. There won’t be many horses this season that win a Grade 2 chase at their first attempt over fences. He’s a horse we’ve always thought a lot of and I think he’ll be at his best on decent ground. He’s in at Sandown on Friday but I don’t want to run him in desperate ground so his next run could be in the Arkle. If it was soft he wouldn’t go to Cheltenham and we’d wait for something later in the season. He’d definitely have an outside chance in the Arkle if we get some nice ground.

AL FEROF: I’ve never really had a fancied runner in the Bumper as we’ve never targeted the race but this horse could be the one. He was bought by John Hales recently and he won at Fairyhouse before Christmas, had one run for us in a good race at Newbury where he won nicely, he loves soft ground and I think he’s our first and best chance of doing well in the Bumper. He’s by the same sire as Neptune Collonges and he’s going to be a lovely three-mile novice hurdler for the future. He’s already won a point to point but his Bumper performances, particularly in Ireland, have been excellent.

ADVISOR: Royal Ascot Racing Club sent him to me in the summer from Michael Bell and he’s done really well for us in juvenile hurdles. He won really well at Ascot and he’s going for the Triumph Hurdle on the last day. He’s had two runs, two wins and we like him an awful lot. He’s a big, scopey horse and has an enormous amount of ability like Celestial Halo had when he won the Triumph. He stays, he jumps and has a big chance. He’s not as good a Flat horse as Celestial Halo but that doesn’t always count for a lot over jumps. He’s only done enough but did it nicely last time and we just think he’s improving and has a real live chance in the Triumph Hurdle.

RIVELIST: We won the Jewson Novices’ Chase last year with Chapoturgeon and this is the horse we are aiming at the race this year. He won a novice race in France last year and was bought by Jim Lewis and won really nicely for us on his first start for us at Newbury. He then got beat a short head at Sandown, where he was a bit idle in front after getting there at bit too soon. He’s got a mark of 135, exactly what Chapoturgeon was last year, and I decided then and there not to run him again as we would end up going further up the handicap. That’s why he hasn’t been seen since Sandown.

THE NIGHTINGALE: He’s the only horse I’ve got left in the RSA Chase and I’m not sure he’ll even turn up in therace. He had a few problems last year, but had a breathing operation in the summer and won well on his debut over fences at Fontwell last month. I’m not sure if he wants two or three miles and I think if it gets very soft he could run in the Arkle but my gut feeling is he wants a trip – he’s by Cadoudal, the sire of Big Buck’s. He’s going to run at Kempton on Saturday in the Pendel Novices’ Chase. Ruby thinks he might get three miles and he’s a possible for the RSA Chase, but nothing more than that at the moment. We may wait for the two-and-a-half-mile at Aintree, and I’m sure he’s a chaser to follow.

MASSASOIT: He’s going to run in the four-mile National Hunt Chase and he’ll be ridden by Ryan Mahon, our stable amateur. He’s had progressive form over fences this winter, was second first-time out to Burton Port at Bangor, then he won at Fakenham and was beaten a neck in a good handicap at Sandown recently. Had he jumped the last better he would probably have won and I think he has a good chance in the four-miler at the Festival. He stays forever and loves soft ground.

TATANIANO: He’s going to run in the Arkle. He won his first two novice chases quite impressively at Exeter and then at Cheltenham, although the form hasn’t worked out well from the latter. He made all the running and jumped beautifully at Cheltenham and then got beat at Newbury in heavy ground. I probably wish I hadn’t run him at Newbury now but I wanted to get some experience into him. He’s a much better horse on good ground and if it’s too soft for him at Cheltenham we’ll bypass that and he’ll go for Aintree and Punchestown. He’s got to improve on the bare form but he could well do that on decent ground and I think it’s a fairly open Arkle.

GHIZAO: He won two bumpers for us in the autumn and then just got beat at Cheltenham at the Paddy Power meeting before winning an ordinary novice hurdle at Taunton. We had to win with him to qualify for all of the races he’s now entered for and he’s in the Supreme and the Neptune. I suspect if it’s soft he’ll run in the Supreme Novices’ but if it’s nice ground he’ll go for the two-mile five-furlong race. He’s crying out for a trip and he’s a lovely big horse who’ll make a nice chaser. He’s a smart hurdler, though, and he’ll have an outside chance on form.

MY WILL: My Will’s been out of form a little bit this winter, but last year he was third in the National, fifth in the Gold Cup and all his recent decent runs have been on good ground. He’s been running on soft conditions this winter but the Grand National’s been his target all season. We’ll run him in the Gold Cup again this year en route to running in the National and he just needs some decent ground.

CHAPOTURGEON: Last year’s impressive Jewson winner was hit hard by the handicapper and he’s just struggled a bit this year. He would’ve been a good second to Poquelin in the Boylesports Gold Cup but for a mistake at the last. He was disappointing on his last run but I put that down to the winter ground and we’ve kept him fresh since. He’s in the Ryanair, the Grand Annual and the Freddie Williams Plate and I think we’ll just wait to see what he gets in the handicaps before making a decision on his target. If he gets plenty of weight in the handicaps he could end up running against Poquelin in the Ryanair and on decent ground he’s capable of running really well. I just get the feeling the Grand Annual will suit him as he’s got a lot ofspeed and has looked a bit of a non-stayer this season.

Free World is also in the Grand Annual and we’ll also leave him in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. We’ll wait and see what he gets in the Grand Annual before making a decision. He was second at Cheltenham and third to Kalahari King at Doncaster the other day so he’s gone up a couple of pounds. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of this horse yet and I reckon there’s a big race in him.

TITO BUSTILLO: He’s just got the one entry in the County Hurdle, a race we won last year with American Trilogy. He’s won three novice hurdles, ran really nicely at Cheltenham earlier in the season and ran well last time when not beaten far by Bellvano. He wants decent ground and I think two miles round Aintree will suit him nicely as he’s quite speedy. We’ve just got to make our minds up whether we let him run at Cheltenham.

THE TOTHER ONE: He came back from a year off when second in the Badger Ales Chase at Wincanton and then he was second at Cheltenham. I ran him a bit quick next time in the Welsh National on horrific ground so we’ve saved him since and he’ll go for the William Hill Trophy on the first day. He loves the track and I’m sure there is a big race to be won with him.

TARANIS: We’ll probably end up running five in the Gold Cup – Kauto Star and Denman, Tricky Trickster, My Will and Taranis. What A Friend is going to go to Aintree and Punchestown and if anything happens to any of the others, God forbid, he could go for the Gold Cup, but as it stands he’ll wait and go for Aintree. Taranis won at Cheltenham in January on his first run for over two years and was really impressive. He’s a Ryanair Chase winner and it was a hard call for Trials Day as we knew we had him super-fit but we didn’t know how much he had left, so it was pleasing to see him win. He’s got loads of speed, jumps nicely and showed last time he stays very well so he has every chance of being placed in the Gold Cup. If you’re not in it you can’t win it so he’ll be taking his chance.