IT’S that time of year again in the racing calendar. The Irish jumping battalions are ready to take up the baton for four prestigious days at Cheltenham’s theatre of dreams once more and, judging by the absolute drubbing they dished out to their British counterparts last March, hopes will be sky high for a repeat dose.

The scores on the doors were definitely so one-sided 12 months ago that the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) recently initiated a review to find the point where it all went wrong for the home side and attempt to address the problem. But many in the sport remain more than sceptical that anything can be done at least in the medium to short term. It’s fair to say the cracks had appeared a number of years ago so why it has taken until now for a review is anybody’s guess

Paul Nicholls knows exactly what it takes to saddle winners at the four-day Festival, having landed the Gold Cup on four occasions in the past and a host of other Grade 1 races and handicaps at Cheltenham down his 30 years as a licence holder. But in the last few seasons it has to be said that pickings have been decidedly thin on the ground for the 12-time champion trainer.

There may well be a number of reasons for Nicholls failing to make the impression of old at the Festival over the last few years. Firstly, there is a train of thought that he is not targeting the four days as seriously as he has done in the past and, secondly, that whichever way you look at it, the strength of the British challenge just isn’t as strong as it was in the past.

Nicholls has never shirked a battle though and he proved the point with a vengeance last April. Given the size of his operation, drawing a blank at the Festival may have knocked some lesser beings off their stride but Nicholls is not that kind. He went home, regrouped and elected to send Clan Des Obeaux and Bob And Co into the white-hot heat of battle at the Punchestown Festival at the end of April and the pair exacted handsome revenge for their trainer by taking the Grade 1 Punchestown Gold Cup and the Irish Champion Hunter Chase respectively.

And just for good measure, the Ditcheat supremo also sent the evergreen Frodon to Down Royal last October to land the Grade 1 Champion Chase in battling style which is all the proof needed that Nicholls is always up for the challenge on either side of the Irish Sea.

“Everything is cyclical in racing - it goes round and round - and it all depends on the team of horses you have at the particular time as you cannot win with horses that are just not good enough,” says Nicholls, reflecting on the dominance of the Irish at last year’s Festival.

“I’ve been lucky to be on the other side in the past with the likes of Kauto Star, Denman, Big Buck’s and Master Minded and enjoyed every minute. It all depends on the team of horses you have at that time - nothing more and nothing less.

“It just so happens that Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead have all the best ammunition at present and the whole thing has become a bit of a numbers game these days. I have to say that perhaps I am not that Cheltenham-minded these days as I once was - you have to look to the future and what is best for the horses in your care.

“There are a number of other opportunities out there with the likes of Aintree and Punchestown where the prize money is comparable.

“Sometimes young horses can have hard races at Cheltenham in defeat and the end result is that it just bottoms them as they are never the same force again. It does not happen with every horse, but what’s the point of coming away with being second, third or fourth best and nothing else afterwards.

“It’s no good for me or the sport and it definitely defeats the object as far as my owners are concerned.”

Overrate

Nicholls also believes that the handicapping system in Britain does very little to help trainers based on home soil.

He explains: “The British handicappers consistently overrate our novices and that inevitably makes life hard in the present and in the future when you are trying to win the handicaps at the Festival - as some Irish trainers set out at the start of the season with one thing on their mind and that is to win certain races in March and campaign their horses accordingly over the winter months.

“I know the powers that be are trying to address the situation at the moment but we will have to wait and see what the outcome is. Don’t get me wrong, my owners and I love having winners at the Festival and I would give my right arm to win the Gold Cup again. However, it is not my priority anymore as I try to pick up as many valuable prizes along the way and then take a look at where we are and do what is best for the horses with the following season and beyond very much to the fore.

“I see my job as a manager in many ways and that entails making sure I am running the horses in the right races as that is what the owners are paying their bills for. So perhaps we are not as totally obsessed with the Cheltenham Festival as was once the case and it’s all about management and making sure you run the horses that at are right for them rather than running them at the Festival for the sake of it.”

And talking of owners, Nicholls adds: “I suppose it’s a bit disappointing, looking at it very much from a British point of view, that the likes of major owners such as Cheveley Park choose to support Irish trainers and not their counterparts in Britain. Obviously that is their choice and it seems to work for them but it does seem a bit strange.”

Missed out

Last season was the first in many years that Nicholls had missed out on a Festival success and he admits: “We went there thinking Bravemansgame had a really good chance in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle but it’s fair to say he was put in his place by Bob Olinger, who went on to score in good style. He was still a big shell of a horse then and is a different proposition this time around.

“He will line up in the Brown Advisory Chase (formerly the RSA Chase) over three miles unless the ground becomes very testing.

“He has earned the right to take his chance with three very sound performances so far this term and I am sure he will be even better next season for races like the King George.

“We have landed that valuable prize no less than 12 times over the years and that is what I mean about managing the horses with the future very much in mind and making sure they are in the right races along the way.”

Looking ahead to this year’s Festival, Nicholls has yet to fully firm up too many running plans but the aforementioned Bravemansgame and fellow novice chaser Threeunderthrufive are definitely two of his better chances over the four days and he says: “Threeunderthrufive won really well at Warwick last time and he will have three entries at Cheltenham in the Ultima Chase which is sponsored his owner Max McNeill, the the Brown Advisory and the National Hunt Chase.

“After that all other plans remain fluid at present but our back up team as things stand consists of Cat Tiger in the Kim Muir, Bob And Co in the Foxhunters along with Thyme White, who won well at Doncaster recently and will now be aimed at the Grand Annual Handicap Chase and McFabulous.

“There could be a number of others but we will tighten up our plans a bit nearer the time.”

There are plans afoot to make the Festival a five-day meeting with the Cheltenham executive want it to culminate with the Gold Cup being staged on a Saturday afternoon.

So what is the Nicholls’ train of thoughts on that aim? He states in fairly direct fashion: “I am not sure it is a good idea. I perfectly understand the pros and cons of why they want to extend by a day and the racecourse obviously wants it to happen for loads of commercial reasons.

“From a personal point of view I thought it worked perfectly well as a three-day meeting. When it became four days I was not alone in thinking it turned out to be a rather diluted affair. Let’s be fair sometimes, in and out of racing, less is more - so let’s just leave it as it is.”

Nicholls at the Festival - three of his best

2008 Gold Cup – The answer is Denman

When Shishkin got the better of Energumene in an epic renewal of the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January, commentators likened the clash to something like the rivalry stablemates Denman and Kauto Star had.

That two-mile chase was one of the race for the ages but the 2008 Gold Cup was a generational race and one that will be referred back to for centuries. You were either team Kauto or team Denman. The two stablemates came into Cheltenham off the back of three wins - Denman a bulldozing 11-length winner of the Hennessy, Kauto Star imperious in the King George by the same distance. Denman was brutally brilliant. Kauto Star was all class.

The pair dominated the market, with Kauto favoured by a slight majority, but it was Denman who tanked around Prestbury Park to get his stablemate out of his comfort zone. Sam Thomas allowed The Tank to stride on and he had Kauto Star and all his rivals in trouble down the hill. He powered back up it to mass jubilation and commentator Richard Hoiles’s excellent on-the-spot summary - “Denman and Sam Thomas, driven out, relentless, remorseless, he’s pounded Kauto Star into submission. The answer is Denman!”

In the end Kauto Star just held on for second from another stablemate in Neptune Collonges to give Nicholls in a Gold Cup one-two-three.

It is to the trainer’s skill and horsemanship that he brought back Kauto Star to gain revenge over Denman in the Gold Cup the following season, while Neptune Collonges went on to win a Grand National.

2012 World Hurdle – A fourth Big win and a record-equaller

Big Buck’s was a shade of odds-on to complete a four-timer of wins in the World Hurdle in 2012 and to so many that was banker material.

The story is well told now. If Big Buck’s hadn’t unseated Sam Thomas in the 2008 Hennessy, perhaps he’d never have become the champion staying hurdler he was. A decision to go back over hurdles proved to be genius from Nicholls because the Andy Stewart-owned gelding went 15 wins in a row without defeat from there.

He needed one more to equal the great Sir Ken’s list of wins in a row going into this race and it was also so Big Buck’s, the way the race planned out. Ruby Walsh sent him to the front at the third last and he broke down all of his rivals bar the Colm Murphy-trained Voler La Vedette who was brilliantly smuggled into the race by Andrew Lynch.

What developed was a fascinating tactical battle between Lynch and Walsh, the former keen for his mare to race alone in order not to get into a one-on-one battle with Big Buck’s, the latter hellbent on the opposite. It led to a dramatic criss-cross switch between the pair, but after the last, with the rail now to his right, Lynch couldn’t avoid getting into a close-by tussle, and like so many horses before her, Voler La Vedette just couldn’t outbattle the champion.

1999 Gold Cup – Nicholls in Business

When all is said and done for Paul Nicholls, perhaps he’ll look back to See More Business and think of his most important horse.

Everyone needs a start and in racing you need the horses, especially in the early days. Nicholls wasn’t long training when See More Business won him a King George in 1997 and a Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1999, initiating his current brilliant records in both of those contests.

The Gold Cup victory rounded off a brilliant week for him as he sent out his first three Festival winners - Call Equiname in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Flagship Uberalles in the Arkle. He has sent out 43 winners since. No wonder when See More Business passed away in 2014, Nicholls labelled him “a horse of a lifetime.”

He was a 16/1 shot going into that Gold Cup after a less than inspiring effort to finish third to Cyfor Malta in Pillar Property Chase on Cheltenham Trials day two months previous. However first-time blinkers worked a treat for Nicholls and jockey Mick Fitzgerald, and See More Business travelled sweetly before staying on best up the hill to get the better of the argument with Go Ballistic.

It was a huge win for a young trainer going places very fast.?