Legendary trainer Paul Nicholls has revealed his tips for day two of the Cheltenham Festival, believing Majborough is « an absolute certainty » to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The 14-time champion trainer has two horses in action on Wednesday afternoon.
One of his day two runners is No Drama This End, who is the favourite to win the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at 1.20pm GMT. His other horse is Rubaud, a contender in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase, which gets underway at 4.40pm. Nicholls is putting a huge amount of stock in No Drama, comparing the horse’s physical presence and potential to the legendary Denman. The 63-year-old Betfair Ambassador said ahead of the action: « When you have a stable star running at the Cheltenham Festival, as I do on Wednesday with No Drama This End, you want them to do well because you have great belief in them.
« No Drama This End has had a good preparation for the Festival, he seems very well and he has won three from three against English horses. Now we will see how he performs against Irish horses. There are two in the race that are rated higher than him, so he has got to improve again. But he seems very well.
« He won his three races in the autumn. He surprised us the first day at Cheltenham in November, when we thought he might need the run, and that was when he showed us what a smart horse he is. Then he ran in the winter hurdle at Sandown, he won that very nicely and then we ran him in the Challow and, even though I’m not convinced he was quite at his best that day because it was his third run in quick succession, he won nicely again. We have given him lots of time between then and Cheltenham and we are very happy. »
No Drama is one of the favourites for the Turners Novice Hurdle and continues the long line of horses trained by Nicholls at the Ditcheat, Somerset, yard owned by the Barber family. The six-year-old has established himself as the best of the British contenders, with his co-owner, Max McNeill, describing him as potentially the best horse he has owned.
Nicholls added: « Act of Innocence will run very well, especially if the ground dries up, and is definitely the main danger. He’s the second best of the British horses. I don’t know the form of the Irish horses but to be honest we will just do our best on the day. »
Nicholls went on to state he is a huge fan of Majborough, saying he is confident the Willie Mullins-trained horse will emerge victorious in Wednesday’s biggest race. He explained: « The Queen Mother Champion Chase is the big race on Wednesday and with Marine Nationale not defending his crown, Majborough is top of the market. The way Majborough ran at Leopardstown last time, it wouldn’t have mattered if Marine Nationale had run or not on Wednesday as I feel Majborough is an absolute certainty.
« He has got to jump round but his jumping at Leopardstown was much more assured the last day. He is older and stronger and wiser and will be very hard to beat. Majborough is the horse I am most looking forward to seeing but I’m looking forward to watching all the great Cheltenham Festival races on the card on Wednesday. »
Nicholls also said about Rubaud: « He ran on heavy ground the last day at Wincanton and ran very well against Alexei giving him two pounds. In the Christmas Hurdle, he wasn’t far behind last year’s Champion Hurdle winner, and he won his two earlier in the season, so he has probably been in the form of his life this year.
« This is a graded horse going back into a handicap. I know he has probably not got the best handicap mark in the world but he’s a bit better over fences than over hurdles, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran a really nice race and was placed. »
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