Paul Nicholls OBE
Paul Nicholls has now celebrated a notable landmark after 28 years as a racehorse trainer at Ditcheat and on April 18th 2019, he notched up his 3,000th winner.
His career as a jockey yielded over 100 winners before he arrived at Manor Farm Stables in October 1991 with eight horses, a bucketful of dreams and an unshakeable belief that he would be successful.
Fast forward a quarter of a century and Nicholls has now been champion trainer for 14 of the past 17 seasons. In fact, he has been either 1st or 2nd over the last 24 seasons! Yet statistics alone tell only half the story. What they cannot fully show is his God given talent, his boundless enthusiasm every day he steps into the yard and his uncanny skill at keeping the same horses in a rich vein of form year on year. No one does it better. Then there is his almost tangible will to win which encourages those who work with him to strive for success every bit as hard as he does. That was never more evident than in April, 2016 when the game looked all over for Nicholls after his great rival Willie Mullins established a huge lead in their enthralling duel for the trainers’ title. His heart must have been in his boots after he drew a rare blank at the Grand National meeting at Aintree where Mullins carried all before him. But that didn’t stop him trying to close the gap and on an unforgettable day at Ayr on April 16, Nicholls struck back with four winners including Vicente in the Scottish Grand National. Suddenly the battle for the title was far from over and when Nicholls enjoyed another four timer at Wincanton the next afternoon it was clear it would not be decided until the final day of the campaign at Sandown. The early success of Ptit Zig from his stable companion Silsol gave him a narrow advantage and though he was initially dismayed to see Just A Par overtaken near the line in his bid to win the bet365 Chase for the second time, his disappointment quickly turned to unbridled joy when people began rushing up to congratulate him on retaining his title.
Paul Nicholls first public reaction was to emphasise that this latest success was entirely down to Team Ditcheat. But he is the driver and given that Willie Mullins delivered 14 Grade 1 winners to his two, Nicholls is surely entitled to believe that his 10th championship was his finest hour.
Restlessly energetic he has improved the already impressive facilities at Ditcheat with the addition of a deep, round sand surface for slow work inside the loop on the flat gallop.
Rust never sleeps and neither, it seems, does Paul Nicholls!
Paul was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List - Read the story here: https://www.racingpost.com/news/latest/nicholls-and-henderson-have-reason-to-smile-after-each-is-made-an-obe/415430
2022/2023 and a 14th Champion Trainers title. A season where he also broke the prize-money record for a single season in GB. He finishes the season with a total of £3,646,585 - just £74 more than the record set in the 2007-08 season.