bettrends.co.uk

The Cheltenham Festival is fast approaching and with the excitement building everyday, we at Bettrends took the fantastic opportunity to visit Paul Nicholls at his stables to get a sneak preview of his top string for the festival.

As we entered the courtyard stables, the atmopshere was buzzing with anticipation of seeing some of the greatest National Hunt horses around. Around 25 horses were paraded by the staff with Paul giving his plans for each individual.

Twist Magic
We started with Champion Chase hopeful Twist Magic. Paul said he is looking very well, is jumping well and holds an outstanding chance. Robert Thornton is booked for the ride and has said the horse is mentally better than ever.

Tricky Trickster
Grand National favourite Tricky Trickster was next out and looks fantastic. He is said to be running very well over fences and Paul commented he is a real festival horse. He went on to tell us he stays forever, Sam Thomas is booked for the ride in the Gold Cup and he could well be the dark horse in the race. Ruby Walsh is to pick between him and Big Fella Thanks for the National.

Pepe Simo
This Irish bred horse is entered for the Supreme Novices and is thought to have an outisde chance. If there is decent ground, Paul thinks he could be hard to beat in the future. He recently ran well at Kempton against some top class individuals but the ground was too soft.

Woolcombe Folly
Won on his chase debut in a Grade 2 contest and I get the feeling Paul has high hopes for this horse. He holds an entry in the Arkle, however, he only likes good ground and if it is soft he won’t run.

Al Ferof
The Champion Bumper is the main aim for this French bred five-year-old and he must have a chance. Paul said he loves soft ground and recently won nicely at Newbury.

Advisor
After a stint on the flat, two wins from two starts have followed for this Triumph Hurdle hopeful. Paul said he has qualities that resemble Celestial Halo, he stays, he jumps and is very tough. He is said to be improving all the time and has a live chance at the festival. I personally really liked the look of him.

Celestial Halo
“He is a great horse in the spring, and he loves good, decent spring ground” were Paul’s words. He also said he thought he ran better in the Irish Champion Hurdle than at Sandown but the ground was not in his favour. He loves the Cheltenham Festival and has an outstanding chance in what has turned out to be a very open race.

Tataniano
After two comfortable wins at Exeter and Cheltenham the ground was against this Arkle hopeful for his last run and Paul even told us he regretted running him in that race at Newbury. He went on to say he loves good ground meaning he needs a dry spell, if there is he has a good chance at Aintree and Punchestown.

Ghizao
Has won two bumpers and hold entries in the Supreme Novices and the Neptune Investment. Paul wants to wait for soft ground for him and may hold a good chance in the Neptune.

My Will
Despite finishing third in the Grand National and fifth in the Gold Cup Paul said he is currently out of form. The Grand National is the main target and he goes to the Gold Cup en route once more. Good ground is needed.

Poquelin
This horse is much improved and after an impressive display at the Paddy Power meeting he won at Cheltenham on his next start. Subsequently he is currently favourite for the Ryanair Chase. He is said to be jumping very well and if there is good ground he has a sound chance.

Chapoturgeon
This horse won the Jewsons’ last year which lead to him being badly handicapped. He made a mistake on landing in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and Paul thinks he held a great chance of winning that. He has a few options open to him at the moment such as the Ryanair and the Grand Annual. He has tremendous speed and where he runs depends on his mark.

Tito Bustillo
This horse has won three novice hurdles this season and is entered in the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle. The horse needs decent ground so may have to wait for Aintree.

Big Bucks
The unbeaten favourite for the World Hurdle was a real character demanding attention and his handler commented he was ‘mad as a hatter’. He is kept fresh and well and will be very hard to beat. Paul went on to say he believes Tidal Bay will be the biggest challenge to overcome.

Master Minded
Paul revealed Master Minded was a nightmare to train last year with the problems that occured. He ran really badly at Cheltenham after which they discovered he had a fractured rib leading to six weeks with no ridden work. Paul is looking forward to running him at Cheltenham again and believes he looks the best he has in a long time.

Denman
Paul spoke a lot on his recent defeat commenting on his slip four from home which Paul thinks lost him the race. However, he is not put off by the defeat and is tanking along. Paul was quoted in saying “write him off at your peril”.

Kauto Star
No introduction was needed for the stable star Kauto Star. The bubbly character was slightly different to his Gold Cup rival in the fact he seemed to love the attention and was more than happy to have his head out for the cameras. Paul said he looks great and is fit and fresh so they haven’t run him recently. He went on to say he does not want him fit for trials as he needs to be in top form for the Gold Cup. At Kempton he was back to form and he said he thinks his win in the King George was his best to date. Paul is very happy with Kauto’s progress and just needs some fine tuning.

A great day was ended with a number of television crews grabbing Paul for interviews but we did manage to get hold of his dark horse for the festival; Massasoit in the National Hunt Chase.

Pictures are now online on our Flickr page and on our Facebook page.