SILVINIACO Conti has earned many headlines throughout his glittering career, but one of his sweetest victories came in the Ascot Chase a fortnight ago.

He put his below par run the King George behind him to romp home for his seventh Grade 1 win. It was a massive training performance to get Silvi back after his well-documented sarcoid trouble.

He has been an incredible tough horse for Ditcheat over the seasons. He keeps coming back year after year at the highest level and that in no small part down to the hard work of his lass Gemma Groves and his work rider Lorraine Morris. They have been part of Silvi’s career in Ditcheat from the start and massive congratulations to those two.

That day, Silvi was the middle leg of an across the card treble for the yard. Frodon stamped himself as a real live Triumph hurdle contender when beating Fixe Le Kap in the Victor Ludorum in Haydock under the brilliant Sean Bowen, while Tagrita followed up in good style to win in Wincanton.

Formerly trained by Adrian Maguire, she won her maiden point-to-point in Ballindenisk in May 13th. Bred by John Kidd, she is a listed winning daughter of Kings Theatre and has been a great fun servant to the Axom Syndicate.

On the 18th February, Kevin Parker, who assists with travelling along with myself, made the journey north to Kelso with the classy Unioniste. It was their feature meeting of the season and we were not the only long distant travellers.

Many of the top names were represented and I bumped into a few familiar faces. One such was Mary Nugent. Mary now works for Gordon Elliot but she worked for Paul a few seasons ago so it was nice to catch up.

Unioniste sent off the odds-on favourite scored easily in the hands of Nick Schofield. Kelso do a good job of welcoming long travellers to the course and a lot of credit must go to all involved.

That day Unioniste kicked started another across the card treble. Alcala won in Fontwell under Sean Bowen and Stilletto was a good a winner of a novice chase in Leicester under Sam Twiston-Davies for owner Roger Brookhouse. A former winning pointer, he is learning to settle better in his races now and bigger things await.

trebles

Trebles have been a theme over the last fortnight with yet another treble coming in Taunton. It came in the shape of three horses having the first wins for the yard. The Brock again, Antartica De Thaix and the highly exciting Captain Buck’s were the winners. The latter was a first winner for sire Buck’s Boum, who is a brother to none other than Big Buck’s.

Captain Buck’s was ridden to victory by Stan Sheppard. Stan has been a member of “Team Ditcheat” for two seasons now and is a hugely popular member of staff. He got a great cheer from the team watching in the lad’s room as he rode his first winner for Paul. Stan is a name for the future.

With the Cheltenham Festival getting closer, the last of the trials are being completed. Last Saturday in the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton, Paul introduced the newcomer Zubayr.

A high profile purchase during the summer, he couldn’t have made a better a start to his hurdling career. Patiently ridden by Nick Schofield he pounced between the last two to run out a going away three and three-quarter length winner at the line. There is a going to be a heap of improvement to be eeked out and he certainly has earned his place at the top of the betting for the Triumph Hurdle. The Triumph is a race that Paul is lucky to have what seems to be a very strong hand in.

This weekend is a busy weekend with four meetings on. Unioniste bids to book his Grand National spot in Kelso’s Premier Chase on Saturday.

Newbury host’s the Greatwood Handicap chase and another Grand National Trial takes place in Doncaster in the shape of the Grimthorpe Chase.

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