Champion trainer Paul Nicholls provided some extraordinary fireworks for punters ahead of the Bonfire Night celebrations a few hours later when sending out a stunning 2885/1 across-the-card seven-timer on the day he chalked up a remarkable 2000 winners as a trainer under National Hunt rules, writes Elliot Slater.
The former dual Hennessy Gold Cup-winning jockey could surely have never dreamed when he took out a license to train that he would scale such amazing heights, but Nicholls has proved one of the all-time great jumps handlers and if anyone doubted that he still has an amazing zest for the job allied to a stable chock full of talented horses, then his seven winners on Saturday, November 5, laid to rest those thoughts. The best horse racing betting odds should just what an achievement it was.
As the great Kauto Star’s half-brother Kauto Stone (9/4) made a winning debut for the yard in Grade 2 company at Down Royal and suggested he may go some way towards living up to his illustrious sibling’s achievements, Nicholls had already sent out Pacha Du Polder (8/13) to land the beginners chase at Sandown. Centre of attention though was Wincanton, where the Ditcheat handler went on to rattle up five successive winners, the first two ridden by Ryan Mahon and the last thee completing a memorable hat-trick for Daryl Jacob.
That’lldoboy (8/1) in the 1.10 event got the ball rolling at the Somerset track before Violin Davis hacked in at 2/1 in the mares handicap hurdle half an hour later under Mahon. Jacob was on board the first of his three winners, the smart Silviniaco Conti (8/11), who made a winning fencing bow to score by 25-lengths and was soon followed by the fortuitous success of Celestial Halo (85/40), who looked set to be swamped by the odds-on Grandouet when that rival fell at the second from home. To complete the seven-timer for Nicholls, The Minack (11/4) won the listed Badger Ales Trophy Chase, and just for good measure led home a stable 1 -2 with Meanus Dandy only half-a-length away in second!
What an amazing day for Nicholls, and congratulations to him and his team on their ongoing tremendous achievements.