Paul Nicholls.

Very true, lets hope Kempton passes its inspection as he has a hatful running tomorrow.

Already passed inspection trusty

Why do you want him to run horses that probably been given some sort of injections and cant lift a leg

His horses die on their arses 2 out every time.

They canter around stylishly and then fall out the back of the telly.

STD in the plate instead of Cobden there. Same old story.


Horrible day for Ditchheat. They were rubbish.

The multiple Champion NH Trainer clearly has much to learn from STEO.
January is rarely a month the Yard excells

Jan 10, 2026 -- 4:04PM, uptheirons wrote:

The multiple Champion NH Trainer clearly has much to learn from STEO.January is rarely a month the Yard excells

What is it with the cadre of insufferable antagonistic, argumentative ****z who frequent the forum?

Id be surprised if he had more than 1 winner at the festival.

2 fat

Has he suddenly become a bad Trainer,STEO?

Jan 10, 2026 -- 4:43PM, uptheirons wrote:

Has he suddenly become a bad Trainer,STEO?

**** off. away and write your ****.

Stupid STEO stumped
Always a pleasure to debate with an erudite poster

**** off. ****.

A distinct lack of vocabulary,STUPID STEO

****

STUPID STEO,thicker than an elephant's trunk

Brought one horse to Fontwell today.

200 mile round trip.


Tailed off first beaten.

Waste of Diesel.

It’s often a slow, gradual decline.  Shame because he’s been brilliant for Racing for a long time.

Is he not second in the trainers championship?

Is he not usually first?  Has he not lost hordes of first class horses, withdrawn by two major owners?  Has he not been unusually moderately to modestly successful at the festivals of recent years?  Is luck not going against him in recent times, in the main?

If so then he is in decline.  As I say, a shame as his record of brilliance is there and he has been brilliant for Racing.

Had a shedfill of fantastic horses for years, all the ammunition gone, needs new owners with deep pockets desperately.

Agree loyal he has been great for national hunt racing he grafted he way to the top and stayed there for a long time,sir Henry as a trainer couldn’t really compete in the last few years of his career but finished with the greatest there will ever be ,hopefully Paul can get one more champion he deserves to.

Stable jockey retained by jp next season

No Walsh?

Harry both uk and Ireland Penzance

Bit of a blow to Walsh that then.
Cobden gets The New Lion ride aswell then.

Apparently next season

Good move by Harry....He is a fantastic jockey imo....From the front and a waiting ride...

With Paul in decline, for some reason, owners (new and old) dont seem to like his methods, this was an offer not to be turned down.

Of course he is now going to be slated for the many unexplained JP owned horses performances before the big meets.

Mcanus needs to sack Frank Berry

No other operation spends so much for so little return compared to others

Discussed a lot, many of Pumpkin's formerly loyal owners are now dead. He's never targeted Cheltenham, and that MO worked for him for a long time. But many new owners only care about C festival winners, and if you only want that and money is not object, Pumpkin isn't your first choice. Nothing stays the same forever anyway.

I can't help but feel Nicholls has been the architect of his own demise. First, the much publicised falling out with Anthony Bromley, in favour of Tom Malone, which saw Nicholls overtaken by Henderson on 2016-17 . Then the odd decision last year to announce his daughter, with comparatively limited experience, is to source his new equine talent at the sales. The fact Cobden has flown the coop suggests the downward spiral isn't about to be arrested anytime soon.

talking about using STD more when cobden leaves...expect the downward spiral to accelerate

Jesus yes it will then

Smith, Barber, Wylie, Stewart, Lewis, Hales, Findlay, Sullivan, Giles - that's an awful lot of big owners that have .either passed away or have cut back totally, or at the very least, significantly. Ditcheat was like a who's who of big owners once upon a time - even JP, Hemmings and David Johnson had the odd one there.. Going further back, you had the likes of Roach and Ogden involved.

Nicholls has always come across as volatile and he did say in a recent interview how much he missed Paul Barber's ability to calm and soothe difficult situations. He's also had a lot of body blows in recent  months, i.e. Caldwell Potter out for season, Kalif's sad death, Kabral Du Mathan improving markedly for joining Skelton, Cobden's impending departure. I'd say he needs No Drama This End to put his name in lights at the big festivals or else his decline could be precipitous. I'm wary of writing him off as he came back strongly when Hendo seemed ready to swamp him around the time of Sprinter Sacre and Long Run, but Skelton could prove a tougher foe, seemingly a Nicholls mark 2, only younger and hungrier.

Having said all that, I do think he is doing well enough this season with what he has at his disposal.

Cobden has been doing most of his winning outside the yard....or so it seemed anyway.

Good post Iswear, also Benny. If you found yourself with a spare 300 large, which trainer would you pick to train your horse? For me, not Nicholls (respect his record) nor Henderson (ditto). It would be someone younger and more dynamic like Pauling or Owen.

" He has never targetted Cheltenham"?
I must have missed have missed the 50 Festival winners,Cider

You're not an idiot. So I thought. The objective of his entire operation isn't to get Cheltenham winners. It's to maximise all opportunities.

All top Trainers aim to get Festival winners,Cider.
The only idiotic statements was yours

All Hendo cares about (for example) is winners at the festival. Which Elliott stated they other day, for him was the 'be all and end all' (getting winners there). HDB and many others would be the same. It has never been the 'be all and end all' for pumpkin.

The only idiotic statements was yours


Are you doubling down? Pumpkin has always targeted Cheltenham, iyo ?

As it's abject nonsense.

Has Aceform hijacked your account,Cider?
Nicholls will run his horses there that he believes can win, The others have alternative targets

He has never centred his entire operation around Cheltenham. Obviously he has always ran them there when good enough and thought the races were appropriate. But he has no issues skipping it for Aintree for example. It's actually something Dan did differently when he wet out on his own as he recognised the importance of attracting owners that wanted festival winners (rather than just lots of winners & prizemoney).

It can be looked at in different ways, but if you run everything around Chelts and it goes wrong (as it did when Hendo's were wrong) the entire season is a write off.

The truth is surely somewhere in between?

Nicholls has never put all his eggs in the Cheltenham Festival basket - Kauto would sometimes run five or six times in a season. Having said that, his recent reticence about the festival is largely pragmatic - why take on the Irish battalions there when you can go to Aintree fresh, with less Irish coverage and smaller fields.

So he targets Musselburgh nowadays

Stop digging Cider.
I have never suggested that he did.
You appear incapable of admitting a mistake

iswearitsoath, that's it but in the jumps game, where Cheltenham sits above everything else for the big money owners has changed. it's why it's relevant as nobody with the big bags of cash would go to pumpkin if all they cared about is a festival winner. but in the UK they would go to Hendo or Dan.

You're the poster getting it wrong, irons. And digging in, apparently.

I can absolutely guarantee you Pumpkin wouldn't ever have sat on state man simply so he could win the county. That's just one example.

are you saying that Elliot and Mullins are just all about Cheltenham......They run their top horses all season, targeting all the grade 1s in ireland and some overseas.

Nichols does not have the ammo and hanst for a few years, he does great with the horses he has, but he isnt at the top table anymore, ie a battalion for top horses.

I will leave you to believe that you are never wrong,Cider as on many other threads where you call black as white.
it's no skin off my nose.Goodnight

are you saying that Elliot and Mullins are just all about Cheltenham......They run their top horses all season, targeting all the grade 1s in ireland and some overseas.


yes they say it themselves, never mind me!

I'd also wonder if Nicholls could do with being a touch more versatile in terms of horse profile, i.e. have a stronger squad of hurdlers (not merely embryonic chasers), a few more juvenile hurdlers, some smart ones off the flat.

Cider,you can guarantee F/A about Donnely's horses

It is like a parallel universe sometimes. It's a shock to some seemingly that the top Irish trainers run their entire operation around the Cheltenham festival. lolz

There are some deluded posters on here but you have leaped into top place Cider.
A Mark of 141 was far too tempting to miss the the opportunity in the County Hurdle.
Naturally,you know better

Irish racing at the top level is competitive all season.....They are not hidden away to be "fresh" for Cheltenham.


Now, you could argue that Willie in particular, doesnt have them 100 per cent fit before Christmas, his juveniles are
still largely running terribly, getting beat out of sight (they might not be good enough), but Elliot imo has his horses.
ready to go all year round.


imo, the irish horses are hardy as fck becuase they have hard races against top horses all the time (before Cheltenham).

Somenone said Pumpkin, will run his horses where he think he can win...i agree.

Of course they all want winners at Cheltenham...no one is saying otherwise.

Quite Aberdonia but the best trainers only take the ones that are ready for it and have a real chance. So many horses are ruined by running there and getting beaten miles. The telltale line is "he does not need another run before Cheltenham" Only one horse can win each race there so the rest are passing up a chance to win a decent race in February.

There are some deluded posters on here but you have leaped into top place Cider.
A Mark of 141 was far too tempting to miss the the opportunity in the County Hurdle.
Naturally,you know better

I'm telling you that pumpkin wouldn't have saved it for the county. I backed it to win the county. Of course it was a good mark.

I'm hardly pulling up trees, stating PN doesn't operate his season around Cheltenham, whereas nearly all of the other top tier trainers do, isn't controversial

Or at least it wasn't before you chimed in

Cider,the man who was never wrong.
Big Owners decide where they run not Trainers.
Still,it is nice to know that you managed to aftertime the winner

March to March the Irish are demented …..Cheltenham……!!!!

Cider,the man who was never wrong.


you're getting there!

And,that is your problem

You've lost yourself I'm afraid. PN has declined (on his own very high bar), because big owners are prioritising Cheltenham over winners and prizemoney. When pumpkin was in his pomp, and his big owners were still around, they didn't so much. I already wrote that. So obviously it's self perpetuating, you don't pay the big bucks (pardon the pun) to Paul and then tell him he has to run your horse at the festival if he can get in. You allow him to do the planning.

In the same way, if you wanted winners and prizemoney you wouldn't out one with Hendo and tell him you want to win the Charlie Hall.

Artur Daley/Cider,The man they couldn't hold

Cynical but thought i noticed more of 'it's not all about cheltenham' as he started to get less there.
And when defending his more recent Gold Cup runners

The evidence doesn't suggest that. He regularly used to take the good ones to Northern Ireland for example, including the best. Denman top weight Hennessy. Kauto 5 KGs, and that was peak Ditcheat.

Jan 11, 2026 -- 4:11PM, STEO wrote:

Brought one horse to Fontwell today.200 mile round trip.Tailed off first beaten.Waste of Diesel.

Welcome to Cartries.

First one beaten. Out the back of the telly.

Cobden does all his winning outside the yard.

7/2 - 12/1 .... Someone was confident that wasnt winning.

2-27 (7%) in last 14 days

It has been an unhappy 2 weeks but Tahmuras and Stay Away Fay have both shown that they can come back from some very poor runs.

I thought Meg was a shade unlucky on Fay.  During its flat spot she didn’t panic and ask too much.  I think the horse will be spot on next time out.
Do you think she will aspire to take the trainer reins in time?  Getting great saddle experience which can only help.

are you on the juice?

Well, rsswhole?

I’m waiting for an erudite opinion/post rsswhole.  Is one coming?

no, i'll leave you to it

Oh the ****g rsswhole is a backsliding whimp!  All mouth and choice, clearly.

Ba lloon.

would you go check the race card?

She is already training hunters and is clearly really keen. Can't see her taking the license any time soon but one day perhaps. Meanwhile Philip Hobbs seems to have found another very promising rider in Jack Stenhouse. A win and a second at Taunton.

On a par with Newmarket Spurs and Harry Cobden elise. lol

i was just messing i don't have a problem with him or i didn't

be nice if he came back to say sorry though, gone quiet

Say sry about what halfwit?  Rsswhole!

Olive rode it, not Meg.

Olive rode it, not Meg.

someone has helped you, enjoy your evening

So I got the name wrong, easy enough mistake to make.  Did you correct me or answer my question?  No.  You were just an rsswhole.  And clearly still are.

So I got the name wrong, easy enough mistake to make.  Did you correct me or answer my question?  No.  You were just an rsswhole.  And clearly still are.

no, what i did was rather than make you look stupid i gave you the chance to correct it with a joke, instead you went to abuse, like i said, enjoy your evening

No you didn’t you fckwit.  You got wide instead of just answering or correcting.  Still at it.  Ba lloon.

ok, next time i'll know to correct and make you look stupid, apologies

Still haven’t answered my post.  Fcking wnaker and no mistake.  So I got Paul Nicholl’s daughter’s name wrong.  Oh diddums for poor, fckwit Elise,  it upset the little girl so much she had to have several digs.  Just can’t leave it alone can you, rsswhole.

oi you thick fckwit, meg stopped riding a few years ago, unlikely to do the weight now & it's olive that rides them, maybe read the race card properly rather than pretend you know what you're talking about

happy now?

night

She’s back again.  Lmao. 

Still haven’t answered my question.  Prattling on like a little girl.  Away and do your knitting.

Thank you sageform for your 16.04 post/answer.  That was all that was needed.  Appreciated.