Paul Nicholls

100 grades 1, not to be sniffed at.

Legend of a trainer.

Even the haters would agree.

Just the two Grade 1's today....

And people think Mullins is the best...

Mullins is just being bankrolled by a banker with unlimited funds and going through a dominant spell.

nicholls  =  quality   

4 Grade 1 races so far this season = 4 winners. He has the favourite Zarkandar for the next one.

The loss of Fry and Skelton has not looked like it's weakened the operation which some predicted at the time.

Best trainer around by some way. I'm thankful that Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded were his. You'd have to wonder if they'd have scaled the heights they did if they were with someone else.

They wouldn't have done, simple as that. And Big Buck's.

simply the best - come on conti !!!!!!

talking through my pocket obviously

Farming the King George again, they might have to name the race after him pretty soon.

Dec 26, 2014 -- 4:20PM, Ibrahima Sonko wrote:

Farming the King George again, they might have to name the race after him pretty soon.

PN a great trainer no doubt. We keep hearing about the 100 grade ones. Well WM reached 100 grade ones in 2013 and there was hardly a word about it.

funny old world where irish people cannot honestly praise someone without going on the defensive.

yet another grade 1

WPM has won very few of the championship races, you can count them on one hand. This is the level to measure him by, not weak fields in Ireland.

interesting to read pwise segal in the weekender on Nicholls
WIth the title of the piece including the words 'Nicholls' and 'genius' there are a few backhanded compliments in there
'never seen eye to eye'
'know for a fact some of my views havent gone down well in ditcheat'
Segal goes on to mention that Ant Bromley told him that Dodging Bullets was more that a bit dodgy at a chelt preview night
stirring the pot between PFN and his principal bloodstock agent perhaps?
Then Segal goes on to criticise PFN handling of Silviniaco Conti, saying he needs another run b4 the Gold CUp
Anyways
Its not hard to fathom Nicholls success
He is a highly motivated individual, who knows what he is doing with access to the richest owners and the best talent (often from France) available
Its the same with Mullins in Ireland
How anyone can criticise him for his festival record (33wins) is beyond me particularly as cheltenham is an away fixture.
Mullins record in Punchestown is beyond reproach, championship races and otherwise
Besides
To me, being able to train the most expensive horses to win big races in an age when money counts more than anything seems a pi55 poor argument for being dubbed the greatest of all time
Be they Mullins or Nicholls
We get this in all walks of life
ROnaldo is better than Pele
Ferguson the greatest manager of all time
Kauto better than Arkle
Pathetic arguments by unimaginative people trying to justify their pitiful existences in this most transparently moribund of ages

How many Championship races has WP won, Latarps, and do yo think it is good enough for a trainer of his talent with the horses he's had?

*WPM

Hello sint
dunno
HFLy won 2 champ hurdles over here
about a gazillion in ireland
Think of all his horses HFly has been the one true superstar he has had give or take a Mikael d'Haguenet who yes you could argue WPM failed with
See how he goes with Faugheen heh

PFN has had 2 GC with Kauto Star, from 6 championship runs altogether which imo is a pretty average return for a horse many believe is better than Arkle
1GC with Denman who I rate the best 3m chaser I have seen
Denman got a short return off PFN imo, what is it nicholls said after the 2008 GC? Cried like a baby to see Kauto beaten
Really?
I read reports that John Hales was livid after the GC in 2009 after Neptune Collonges was sacrificed at the great god of Kauto
PFN unable to get Big Bucks to jump a fence, blaming Sam Thomas before mopping up the 3m hurdle division, surely the weakest division in NH
MasterMinded won 2 QMs, flopped as jolly in 2 others I believe b4 given an abortive attempt at 3m chasing

guess none of us are perfect

Nicholls' training performance better than ever this season because I don't think he has as much talent at his disposal as he has done sometimes in the past (to be fair he has probably been slightly helped by misfiring Henderson and Jonjo stables but that's not his problem).

He is brilliant at placing his horses and that skill has obviously been  passed on to Fry and Skelton, should be straightforwaard but a lot seem to get it wrong.

I'd have railed against the use of the word 'genius' in the past for similar reasons to those outlined by thelatarps above but I think it is fully justified for PFN - I can't even claim that the horses are overbet at the moment, he's showing £57.62 profit to £1 stake this season which is over £10 better than anybody else in top 70 in the Jumps Trainer standings.

He obviously gets his fair share of talented raw material to train but that's largely a product of his previous success plus his success rate in converting that potential to results.

In fairness Mullins' stats in Ireland are very impressive but the antepost Cheltenham markets surely serve as a pointer that he is working with a deeper pool of talent just now.

Fwiw
My opinion is that PFN is only really interested in being Champion
He has got Silvi and Dodg primed for these early season G1s and built a huge lead in prize money
Gambling that O'Neil and Henderson wont do what Henderson did in 2012 and clean up at chelt,
Mullins will prevent such an eventuality anyway
You do wonder if all these horses werent in the same stable and given 100% attention from a smaller yard how much better they would become
For me the 09 Gold Cup was an absolute farce with PFN having 4 of the first 5 home was it?
Nicholls audibly instructed Sam Thomas 'not to do what you did last year' on Denman
John Hales livid in the winners enclosure with his Neptune Collonges  not being allowed to run his race.
Nothing more than a procession, an ego boost for PFn and his favourite horse

If you believe what you've written in those last few sentences you need help.

Sorry Latarps but their is an awful lot of codswallop in those posts. I don't even know where to begin.

Colm Finlay ‏@BamburyBookie  6m6 minutes ago
Take away Faugheen and Willie is 0/17 in the UK with raiders this year

Mullins didn't win much last season with his raiders bar Annie Power. He sends over his 3rd or 4th string to give him a sighter of the English horses. Like Rathvinden last term or Sempre Medici this term.

Nicholls is a superb trainer, especially of Chasers. He excels with them. He doesn't do as well with hurdlers. Big Bucks aside.

nicholls don't do to bad with hurdlers cv even though most are bought with chasing in mind

thelatarps • January 21, 2015 10:06 PM GMT
Fwiw
My opinion is that PFN is only really interested in being Champion
He has got Silvi and Dodg primed for these early season G1s and built a huge lead in prize money
Gambling that O'Neil and Henderson wont do what Henderson did in 2012 and clean up at chelt,
Mullins will prevent such an eventuality anyway
You do wonder if all these horses werent in the same stable and given 100% attention from a smaller yard how much better they would become
For me the 09 Gold Cup was an absolute farce with PFN having 4 of the first 5 home was it?
Nicholls audibly instructed Sam Thomas 'not to do what you did last year' on Denman
John Hales livid in the winners enclosure with his Neptune Collonges  not being allowed to run his race.
Nothing more than a procession, an ego boost for PFn and his favourite horse

^^^ interesting stuff enjoyed reading it

So did I mate.

How are you Buddeliea, well I hope, were you at Chelters, yesterday?

cheers howdi, budd
that 09 GC euch
the sycophantic racing media with their
'please look at us were still a big sport' mentality
talking about any horse that can string a couple of wins together as if its the second coming
Almost as bad as when Dickinson won his Gold CUp with the first 5 home.
Apparently Dickinson was telling anyone who would listen the finishing order of the 5 months before the race.
HOw would you feel if you owned one of the placed horses?
pretty pi553d off
Look at Mullins and his hurdlers
desperately trying to avoid matching them up
Still, Dreaper kept Arkle and Bolt apart, save for one piece of accidental home work.
Rumours are that Bolty had much the better of it
So its nothing new.

Im fine thanks mate, no Cheltenham for me............working

Don't believe that for a second CV. All his horses have different owners so getting them to fork out travel costs just so HE can have formlines with the english horses would be a dereliction of duty on his part. They come over because he has too many horses, simple as that. Remember the talk of setting up a yard over here that Patrick would run? Nothing to do with seeing how good the opposition is...any trainer who worries about that is in the wrong job and It's not a breeding operation they have there like Coolmore & Aiden Obrien where they can send any horse wherever they like.

Compare and contrast WPMs record over here to PFN's in Ireland...

acc racing post
in the last 5 years
mullins sent over 200 runners to the uk including 16 winners at the festival
again an away fixture
nicholls sent 27 runners to ireland
including Denman running right handed around punchestown

PFN has had more than 27 runners in 5 years surely? In any case, he's won multiple Grade 1 and many more Grade 2's over there as well as the Galway Plate.

http://www.racingpost.com/horses/trainer_home.sd?trainer_id=5767#topTrainerTabs=trainer_record_race_form
most of the winners came at novmbr Down Royal
plus Tidal Bay's lexus win a couple of years ago
I doubt he gives a rats a55 about winning in ireland because those winners do not count toward the ENGLISH championship

I'll say it again, awesome trainer....