'We'll have him mad fresh on the day' - Paul Nicholls' horse-by-horse guide to his Cheltenham Festival team
Lewis Porteous gets the lowdown on Paul Nicholls' squad for the Cheltenham Festival
In his own words champion trainer Paul Nicholls is preparing a "small but select" team for the Cheltenham Festival, but the one thing punters can be assured of is that there will be no social runners on the Ditcheat team sheet.
Nicholls has never lost sight of the fact that there are plenty of big races outside the festival to target but, make no mistake about it, he is still passionate about conquering at the biggest meeting of them all.
"We've probably got a small but select team this year, but I'm happy with that and I'm not going to go mad," says Nicholls. "You've got to be selective and run horses with chances, otherwise you completely waste their season and waste owners' time. You've got to be sensible and I'm dead happy to go there with the horses I've got."
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- Richard Hannon: 'He's in the Derby and we were extremely impressed with his win this month - that was no fluke'
- Roger Varian: 'I still think he's unexposed over a mile and a half - but we want to try to win the Prince of Wales's first'
- Jessica Harrington: 'She was second in a Group 1 last year - and it would be fantastic to win one with her'
- Joseph O'Brien: 'He's looked a bit special at home - and it could be straight to Royal Ascot now'
- Tim Easterby: 'He's well handicapped and I'm looking forward to him - we like him a lot'