'I've got a feeling he'll go very well' - Nicholls has Pic D'Orhy primed for Ascot Chase

Paul Nicholls believes Saturday’s Betfair Ascot Chase is the biggest race of Pic D’Orhy’s career but is confident the four-time Grade 2 winner has the ability to gain a breakthrough top-level success.

Nicholls would become the most successful trainer in the race’s history – he shares a tally of four victories with Martin Pipe – if the Johnny de la Hey-owned eight-year-old can emulate illustrious Ditcheat stars and former winners Kauto Star and Silviniaco Conti.

Pic D’Orhy’s rivals include last year’s winner Fakir D’Oudairies and four-time Grade 1 winner Shishkin, with six horses declared on Thursday morning for the £175,000 event.

Harry Cobden’s mount arrives with a perfect 3-3 record this season, winning Grade 2 prizes in the Fitzdares Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon and the Coral Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton in the past two months.

Nicholls, who won the Ascot Chase for the first time with Rockforce in 2000, said: “Pic D’Orhy has always had plenty of ability and he’s a little like Bravemansgame in that he’s massive and has just taken all this time to mature. He wasn’t jumping that well in his first season over fences but he’s been fantastic on that score this season. He’s the finished article now and hopefully will keep improving.

“It was one of his best performances at Kempton. We weren’t convinced about the soft ground – he’s much better on good ground – but he won well. This is the biggest race of his career but he’s up for it.

“If he’s going to compete in the Ryanair and at Aintree, he needs to be right in the mix. I’ve got a feeling he’ll go very well and he couldn’t be going into it in better form.”

Shishkin: among Pic D'Orhy's rivals in the Ascot Chase

Fakir D’Oudairies and Shishkin top the ante-post betting for the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival following Allaho’s defection but the 13-time champion jumps trainer feels there are potential chinks in their armour.

Nicholls said: “There’s questions about Shishkin, he hasn’t been in form on his last two runs, having a problem at Cheltenham and then they must have been disappointed with him at Sandown. They’ve tinkered with his wind and that could help him and I feel two and a half miles will suit him better than two miles.

“Fakir D’Oudairies is a good horse but you could say he had a hard enough race and was lucky to win last time. He beat Hitman at Aintree last year, which gives me a bit of a lead with Pic D’Orhy. It’s quite an open race and it wouldn’t surprise me if Millers Bank ran a good, solid race. He was staying on strongly at Huntingdon and likes better ground.”

Nicholls took a strong squad to Betfair Hurdle day at Newbury last Saturday but drew a blank, with six favourites from the yard beaten on the seven-race card. He has no concerns over the stable form, however, and was back among the winners the following day.

“You get days like that and it’s the first ordinary day we’ve had for a while,” said Nicholls, on a Great British Racing media call. “The ground was quicker than we all thought at Newbury. Some of ours ran okay and Hitman and Greaneteen have big targets for the spring, but the next day we went to Exeter and our first runner won so we were back on track again.”

Betfair Chase, 3.35 Ascot, Saturday

Betfair: 7-4 Fakir D’Oudairies, 2-1 Shishkin, 11-4 Pic D’Orhy, 9-1 Millers Bank, 16-1 First Flow, 50-1 Aye Right

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