Headline winners fail to paint whole picture of Nicholls' Cheltenham challenge

It was an excellent weekend for Paul Nicholls, who won the big chases at Ascot with Clan Des Obeaux and Cyrname. The rich vein of form Nicholls has seemingly struck – he had six more winners on Saturday alone – will bring his runners into sharper focus, but to get really excited, it is advised to look at his longer-term record.

Nicholls is one of the pre-eminent jumps trainers of his generation, but the development of his leading horses tends to follow a more traditional gradient relative to most of his leading contemporaries. Cyrname did not win in three hurdles runs, while Clan Des Obeaux was one from four in graded novice chases. Contrast that with Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins, whose stars seem to arrive much closer to fully formed.

The possible significance of this to Cheltenham can be seen in a couple of Nicholls' other runners on Saturday. The immensely talented Brio Conti, who is entered in the Coral Cup and Martin Pipe, perhaps let the cat out of the bag a little in winning at 25-1 on Ascot's undercard, but his SP only hardens the view that there is more to come and he has just the style to thrive in a big handicap.