Nicholls masterclass

[cormack15]

I thought that results this week confirmed that Paul Nicholls can now be quite feasibly argued as being the outstanding jumps trainer of all time.

Vincent O’Brien, Fred Winter, Fulke Walwyn, Martin Pipe, Michael Dickinson, David Nicholson and Aidan O’Brien were all wonderful trainers but I think that Nicholl’s achievements at the quality end of the game are now edging him towards the ‘greatest-ever’ mantle.

[Anonymous]

Cormack

Behave yourself!
When PN has won 3 Gold Cups, 3 Champion Hurdles, a Grand National, 6 Derbys, a host of other classic winners and (as Jimbo pointed out today) 9 Gloucester Hurdles out of 12 runnings, then you might be able to talk about him in the same sentence as the legendary M V O’Brien.

[seepigeon]

Cormack

Behave yourself!
When PN has won 3 Gold Cups, 3 Champion Hurdles, a Grand National, 6 Derbys, a host of other classic winners and (as Jimbo pointed out today) 9 Gloucester Hurdles out of 12 runnings, then you might be able to talk about him in the same sentence as the legendary M V O’Brien.

Agreed – he has not won a National or a Champion Hurdle yet, which puts him below a few ot the others as well

[Cav]

Behave indeed!

To his enormous credit he has brought together an exceptional team. An exceptional buyer, an exceptional jockey, an exceptionally wealthy set of owners, an exceptional form person(s) to do placement, etc…That combined with his own will to win is where all his success stems from.

When measured against exceptional horsemen, he has a way to go yet imo.

[thedarkknight]

That is bang on CR – Nicholls runs a slick operation, but you can’t underestimate the importance of having people finding and sending him the very best horses…

[apracing]

Wouldn’t argue about the talent available to Nicholls, but I still reckon he has to be given credit for the durability of his star horses.

Kauto Star and Denman were both appearing at their fourth consecutive Festival. Consider the names of some of the other winners from their first year, 2006, such as Nicanor, Detroit City, Black Jack Ketchum, My Way De Solzen, Hairy Molly, Sky’s The Limit and the difficulty of keeping horses at the top for that long becomes apparent.

[Cav]

True he deserves the credit but he’s certainly not the first trainer to do it, and you could argue that Kauto Star is the only chaser of his that has truly stood the test of time.

[Himself]

Nicholls certainly has the credentials and potential to get to the very top, but for me ( at this stage anyway ) he still ranks below Vincent O’Brien, Michael Dickinson and Martin Pipe.

Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning

[Cav]

"When I was a very ordinary jockey in the 1980s, Pipe was starting to make his mark as a trainer. I rode for Josh Gifford and David Barons and I was struck by the difference in Pipe’s horses. Jesus, they were twice as fit! Our horses did nothing but Pipe trained his really hard. I do the same now."

– Paul Nicholls April 2005

Matin Pipe….now there was a genuis

[moehat]

The difference is that he uses everything available to get the results, whereas Martin Pipe and Vincent O’Brien were groundbreakers [Martin Pipe especially so as he had to work against the establishment]. You could also say that the first lady trainers were pretty special as well.

[Author]

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