Victor Nicholls savours tenth championship

Paul Nicholls with the Champion National Hunt trainers' trophyPaul Nicholls with the Champion National Hunt trainers' trophy
Paul Nicholls with the Champion National Hunt trainers' trophy

Paul Nicholls insisted he gained as much pleasure from winning his 10 trainers’ championship than any other.

With no apparent stable stars other than Silvinaico Conti, Nicholls considers the title which he claimed on a final day thriller at Sandown is his sweetest.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In previous seasons, a succession of big Saturday winners enabled him to build up a huge advantage heading into the last day of the season.

This time it was different, with Willie Mullins starting the day a workable £53,592.54 behind, but after Nicholls filled the places in the bet365 Gold Cup with Just A Par (second) and Southfield Theatre (fourth) there was no doubt.

The consolation of winning the final race of the season with McKinley was to be just that for Mullins, who had narrowly missed out earlier with Valseur Lido and was second to the magnificent Sprinter Sacre with Un De Sceaux.

Nicholls – earning a total of £2,439,560.26 for the season to his rival’s £2,341,735.22 for victory by £97,825.04 – said: “It is a relief. There is a lot of pressure, because unlike before, it has created a lot of interest.

“Hats off to Willie for coming over and it has made things more interesting.

“I’m hopeful it has been really good for racing.”

Related topics: