Cheltenham 2024 Stable Tour - Paul Nicholls' Festival Runners

I don’t think I covered myself in glory training him in the autumn. The ground was heavy in the Charlie Hall and quite soft again in the Betfair Chase and he had two runs on very testing ground. He was staying on strongly at the Kempton and I don’t think there is a lot between him and Shishkin to be honest. He still got interfered with when Shishkin had that hiccup and winner would probably have won anyway but he got stopped there and Harry thought he ran a real solid race. We have had him nowhere near his best yet because of the circumstances in the autumn. He is right back there now and looks great and Harry schooled him last Tuesday and he jumped really good. He is going to Kempton tomorrow and having an away day working with Captain Teague. I think at 20-1 each way he is a massive price. He was second last year, and I think he is great value. Galopin Des Champs is the one we all have to beat in the Gold Cup but there three or four like Shishkin that are all on par. If he runs like he did last year, he will be thereabouts.

He obviously won the Turners last year and he needs to be fresh and needs to be right. He is not the easiest horse to train as he has issues but when he is right, he is very good. He obviously won the Paddy Power Gold Cup off top weight very nicely despite making a horrific mistake at the last and managed to gallop all the way to the line. I wish I hadn’t run him on New Year’s Day on that testing ground under top weight and I don’t think he was quite his best. We were struggling to get any option to run him in the country as he has to go left-handed. He has had lot of physio and bits and pieces after Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, and he is where we want him. He doesn’t need an awayday as he always goes well fresh. If he didn’t run on New Year’s Day, he would probably be favourite for the Ryanair and that is the race he runs in. He loves the New course which the race is on and he would, hopefully, go there with a good chance. You only need three or four days of dry weather at Cheltenham and the ground would go to good to soft and that would be perfect for himon New Year’s Day, it was absolutely bottomless. I am looking forward to running him in the Ryanair and he must have a great chance.

He won last year’s Albert Bartlett, and he has had a good season novice chasing. He improved enormously from finishing second in the River Don at Doncaster before going to the Albert Bartlett and we hope he show that again to run him in the Brown Advisory. He is definitely taking a step forward; he won nicely at Exeter and Sandown and ran a good race in the Cotswold Chase in what was a bit of a muddling race. It turned into a sprint, but he gained some valuable experience against the older horses and at the weights he ran very very well. I was pleased with that, and I would like the Brown Advisory to be run on the New course which would make it a stiffer test. He is all stamina, but he will be a lot sharper than he was on Trials Day. He is going to Kempton to have a little run around with a bumper horse Quebecois just to sharpen him up and put him right. He takes plenty of work and he is quite a laidback horse and keeps finding. He is all ready to go for the Brown Advisory and is a good solid gallop. In time races like the Betfair Chase over three and a quarter miles will suit him well and he is in good shape at the moment.

He is obviously a smart horse, and he won his bumper at Plumpton and went to Cheltenham and finished third in the Champion bumper. On his debut over hurdles, he won the Persian War at Chepstow, ran well at Cheltenham when finishing second and learnt a lot about him and he didn’t jump so well that day. He went to the Grade 1 Challow at Newbury over Christmas, and he stayed on dourly and won very nicely. He is going to Kempton on Tuesday to work with Bravemansgame, it won’t be anything flashy, just for a day out. He hasn’t run since December, and he is in the Baring Bingham over two miles five and also in the Albert Bartlett which we won last year with Stay Away Fay. My thinking is like normal Cheltenham and not too testing he will run in the Albert Bartlett, but we are going to leave that decision until late. I am convinced that the way he stays on in his race that the trip of the Albert Bartlett will suit him well. There is loads of stamina in his pedigree and he is very much on par with Stay Away Fay and has a bit more boot than that horse. He is a lovely horse and is going to make an awesome chaser next season.

He has run three times this year and won all three. He won at Wincanton first time out and won a Listed race at Aintree on very heavy ground. We went to Musselburgh there weeks ago a made all. He is by Cracksman and hasn’t had any decent ground, but he will like that. He is in the Boodles of 134 and in the Triumph on the Friday and if you think Nicky’s horse Sir Gino is rated 145, he will have to improve 11lb or so just to compete with him. If we go anywhere, it will be in the Boodles and plenty of horses around that rated have won the Boodles. I think he has a right mark, and he will have plenty of weight at the top horse at the moment is rated 136. I will look at it closely but if the Triumph looked like ending up a small field, we might take our chance but essentially the Boodles is the right race. If we didn’t go to Cheltenham, then we would wait for Aintree but if he is in good form then it would be Cheltenham. He has run on Flat tracks but that only because they were the right races for him, and he just jumps and gallops, but you could ride him anywhere you want.

If Captain Teague runs in the Albert Bartlett, he will wait and go to Aintree. If it came up testing ground and Captain Teague ran in the Baring Bingham, it could become possible.

He is a nice young bumper horse and he is going to Kempton on Tuesday to work with Stay Away Fay. He is a half-brother to Brindisi Breeze by No Risk At All and he ran second in a point-to-point in Ireland and was so green. We always liked him at home, and we went to Exeter before Christmas, and he won his bumper without coming off the bridle. He was equally impressive as Teeshan and didn’t have the same reputation. He will run in the Champion bumper and is a seriously nice horse.

Teeshan is in the Champion bumper and he won an Irish point-to-point in the Autumn very impressively and Tom Malone bought him for Johnny de la Hay. We gave him loads of time to acclimatise and he made his debut at Exeter and basically cantered round and absolutely bolted in. We have taken the decision to go to Cheltenham and he is obviously a talented horse. Last year Captain Teague won his bumper at Plumpton and went to the Champion Bumper and finished third and won a Grade 1 hurdle this year. I would put Teeshan very much on par with Captain Teague on his homework. He loves soft ground and travelled very well at Exeter and I would say, next year, he will follow what Captain Teague did and follow a similar sort of route. He is a smart young horse and he is so laid back.

He is in the County Hurdle, and it depends what weight he has got, and he would want decent ground. His main race might be the Boys’ race at Aintree.

He has two options at the Festival and he is the Coral Cup and is also in the Martin Pipe. He is rated 143 and the Martin Pipe is 0-145 and I would suspect he will run there, and Freddie Gingell will ride him. He has won two good handicaps this season and won at Aintree off topweight and probably had done enough when running in the Lanzarote after Christmas. Harry said they didn’t go quick enough for him, and he needs a fast run race where he can come off the pace. He has done very well over hurdles and will probably have two more runs over hurdles this season at Cheltenham and Aintree and will be chasing in the autumn and then that’s when we will see the best of him.

He is probably one of the most improved horses in training arguably and he has won his last three. He won at Cheltenham and was very good on the New course which suits him well. He has made all in his three runs and galloped on strongly up the Cheltenham hill and probably stays three miles even though we haven’t gone that far yet. He was with Tom Lacey last season and the owner sent him to us. He was so fat when he joined us, he needed his first run and the experience, and I knew he would improve massively but I didn’t expect him to improve so much from run to run. He jumps well keeps on galloping and is a smart animal. I would say he is one of our best chances in the novice chase as he jumps well and loves the course and I think he is still improving. Claudia who rides him says he is as good a Pic D’Orhy and Cliff and I were laughing at her but she might actually be right. He did a fantastic bit of work before he ran the last day and is obvious a very talented horse. He is every bit as good as Stage Star and is higher rated than him going into the Turners Novices' Chase. He ran Trials Day and doesn’t need a racecourse gallop and he is one you can get ready at home. He is ready go.

He is a bit of nearly horse, and he runs in the Ryanair which he finished third in and ran very well. He had a wind op in the autumn and needed the run at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day and then ran an absolute blinder against Shishkin in the Denman Chase, I was delighted with that, and I think he is in better form than he was before the Ryanair last year. He is no forlorn hope and has loads of talent. He wasn’t fully wound up at Newbury and is a lovely horse. I would say he has an outside chance.

Il Ridoto ran at Kempton on Saturday and went right-handed and it was a complete waste of time. He will run in the Plate.