WHAT a whirlwind fortnight it has been for the yard. The Aintree Festival was a disappointment over all and we saw our title lead slip away into a large lead for the Mullins camp. But as Paul has shown time and time again over the years he had a plan and a large team of horses were targeted at the Ayr Scottish Grand National meeting.

Some 11 horses made the arduous 400 mile journey. Donna Hills and Kevin Parker took charge of the transport and the team headed off early on Thursday morning to beat the traffic. Two runners on the Friday yielded a second and narrowed the gap with the help of a double down at Fontwell Park.

Saturday loomed and it was a make or break day in the defence of the trainer’s championship. Vivaldi Collonges under a confident Sean Bowen got us off to the best possible start with a smooth display in the valuable novice handicap. Next to fire was Le Mercurey, running in first time blinkers. He had the tall order of taking on Bristol De Mai but under a great tactical ride from Sam Twiston-Davies, the reformed Le Mercurey jumped his rival ragged to win.

Two from two and we began to dream. Solid efforts from Some Plan and Solar Impulse were appetizers for the feature Scottish National showdown.

DRAMA

Victory in the National would bring us back in front in the championship so all our hopes rested on Vicente’s shoulders. With Mullins saddling the fancied Measureofmydreams, hopes were high based on their previous encounter at the Cheltenham Festival.

The drama unfolded early with a third fence exit for Measureofmydreams and all eyes were then glued to Vicente. Jumping in his own fashion he travelled well behind the leaders under a confident Twiston-Davies. He jumped to the front at the last and stayed on all the way to the line to win the massive pot.

It was wonderful for Mr Ian Fogg, who owns half of Vicente. Mr Fogg lives local to the yard and has a lovely team of horses. A lovely man, he has a great passion for the game and it was brilliant to see him win a race of this stature.

The other half of Vicente is owned by Mr and Mrs Hales, who enjoyed a memorable day with a treble. They are involved in the Gi Gi Syndicate who also own the first race winner, Vivaldi Collonges and the highly exciting last race victor Gibbes Bay. Gibbes Bay, a gorgeous big son of Al Namix, won the bumper on his debut in taking fashion.

What a day. Four winners and it was duly celebrated in the local Manor House Inn with the trophy arriving in time for everyone to have a quick picture taken.

MEMORABLE WEEKEND

A memorable day was to turn into a memorable weekend. Wincanton played host to four runners from the yard on Sunday. The hugely talented Zubayr bolted up in the first, followed by Emerging Talent who was winning his third hurdle race of the season for his owner, Mr Barber. That led us on to the bumper – there were two divides of this race and we ran two lovely horses.

In the first division we ran Movewiththetimes. Owned by J.P. McManus, this striking chesnut son of Presenting was making his racecourse debut. Working well at home, hopes were high and he was given a beautiful education to racing by Sam before asserting under a hands and heels ride to win by three-quarters of a length.

First time out bumper winners have been a theme of the past month and this was our sixth debutant winner.

In the second division we ran Capitaine, a horse that I have been very lucky to ride out for the past few months and I was very excited to see him run. Second for us in early December he has been given time to develop and was working well at home, so I was quietly confident of a big run.

Again Sam oozed confidence and the handsome grey son of Montmarte was brought through to challenge two furlongs out before easily asserting to come home an impressive 13 length winner.

He is just another exciting bumper horse to win for the yard in recent times and we look forward to seeing them over obstacles in the autumn. It certainly was a very Happy Birthday for Paul!

A huge weekend saw us back at the top of the table with a nice lead over the Mullins team. A large number of runners helped to whet the appetite for what will be a massive day at Sandown today – the grand finale. We have a large team entered for the weekend headed by Southfield Theatre.

For more information on Paul’s Sandown team check out Paul’s betfair blog at https://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/paul-nicholls/.