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  • Nicholls' Cheltenham Festival Nightmares: Five Prestbury Park Pitfalls For The Legendary Trainer

Nicholls' Cheltenham Festival nightmares: Five Prestbury Park pitfalls for the legendary trainer

There's been plenty of ups and downs for Paul Nicholls at Cheltenham and not just on the undulating Cotswold countryside. Planet Sport recalls five Festival nightmares that he won't want to repeat.

A true heavyweight of British jumps training, 13 times Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls has made hay at the Cheltenham Festival, with 46 notable winners, including the Gold Cup four times and the Queen Mother Champion Chase on six occasions.

However, it hasn't been all plain sailing over the Cheltenham obstacles and into the winner's enclosure for Nicholls with the West Country handler suffering his fair share of misery and disappointments on national hunt racing's top stage.
Nicholls hasn't won any showpiece races since 2012 and was last named trainer of the Festival in 2009. He drew blanks at the 2022 and 2021 Festivals.

Planet Sport recalls five Paul Nicholls Cheltenham Festival moments that the legendary trainer may wish to forget. Sorry Paul!

Nicholls' winless Cheltenham Festival (2021 and 2022)

Nicholls' Ditcheat base is geared up for top level events such as the Cheltenham Festival, and he looked to be going into Cheltenham 2021 with a string of leading chances.

Yet, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, with Cyrname being left at home after pulling up at Ascot and star chaser Politologue, a late withdrawal from the Champion Chase.

An agonising second for Next Destination to leading Irish novice Galvin was about as good as it got, with the talented Bravemansgame coming third in the Ballymore and front-runner Frodon finishing a distant fifth in the Gold Cup.

It wasn't any better in 2022, when he drew another blank. Not helped by having to withdraw his leading contender Bravemansgame from the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase as the soft ground didn't suit.

He'll be hoping for better for Bravemansgame in the 2023 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Kauto Star falls, Denman second (2010)

The 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup was billed as a straight up fight between the two Nicholls' superstar chasers Kauto Star and Denman. King Kauto was all regal class whereas Denman was a tank of a horse that took some stopping.
Yet, Kauto's star faded after a mistake at the eighth and then the unimaginable happened with a crashing fall four fences out under Ruby Walsh.
That left a ding-dong duel between Denman and Nigel Twiston-Davies' Imperial Commander, with legendary jockey AP McCoy aboard Nicholls' last hope in the race.
Yet, Paddy Brennan drew away in the black and white starred silks for a dogged win on Imperial Commander. The race hadn't followed the script and with Kauto Star a faller and Denman finishing second, this is a Cheltenham race that Nicholls hoped would have played out better.

Nicholls the jockey pulls up on Playschool (1988)

It's hard to imagine now, when you look at the well-built Nicholls, that he was a dual Hennessy winning jockey when he was a mere slip of a lad.
Nicholls has made no secret of his problems making the weight as a jumps jockey but his Hennessy victories at Newbury on Broadheath (1986) and Playschool (1987) were huge achievements.
He struck up a great relationship with the David Barons trained Playschool and was a natural partner for a crack at the 1988 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Playschool went off a strong 100/30 favourite but Nicholls' race was done when blundering at the fifth, before pulling up before the 20th.
Charter Party won but Nicholls was in no mood to celebrate.

Clan Des Obeaux no shows (2019 and 2020)

In 2019 it felt like Nicholls had a runner in Clan Des Obeaux, to take out a wide-open Cheltenham Gold Cup field.

With Presenting Percy, a somewhat shaky favourite, everything was set up for 5/1 shot, and Denman Chase winner, Clan Des Obeaux to do the business.

Part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, Clan Des Obeaux fluffed the open goal and finished fifth behind Al Boum Photo.

Clan Des Obeaux missed the rebound too with an even weaker showing in the 2020 renewal, trailing in eighth behind Al Boum Photo once more.
Such was the disappointment, Nicholls declared that the luckless Clan Des Obeaux would never race at Cheltenham again and he never has. This Clan was an also-ran at Cheltenham.

Rigmarole lives up to his name in Champion Hurdle (2004)

There was plenty of Champion Hurdle talk about Nicholls' Fairy King gelding Rigmarole after a 2004 win in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton.
For all his credentials, Nicholls has only won the Champion Hurdle once and the ambitious trainer is always keen to add to that meagre tally.
"Roll on Cheltenham" said Nicholls who said that Rigmarole had a "serious chance" of taking Rooster Booster's title.
But backers were left clucking mad after Rigmarole put in a performance way worse than his 4/1 price.
Rigmarole trailed home in eighth behind Hardy Eustace, found to be lame, while the downcast Nicholls could find no excuse for the lacklustre performance.

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