Olive Nicholls: 'Longer term I would love to train - and at some point I will join Dad'

To the description ‘talented’, we can now add ‘tough’ of amateur rider Olive Nicholls.

The second of Paul Nicholls’ four children and daughter of Georgina Nicholls, who last summer regained a trainers' licence, Olive was a good bet for success once she inherited the family passion for horses. Her older half-sister Megan was a novice champion point-to-point rider, became a professional jockey and is now an agent and broadcaster; her younger sister Zara is a talented junior showjumper, while half-brother Henry is just two. Who knows, he might prefer tractors?

Via a mix of point-to-points and races under rules, Olive's riding career has been progressing along the sort of lines that might have been expected of someone with such a background. Following a famous parent into their profession gives cynics a reason to cast around for banana skins, but talent will out, and at 18 Nicholls shows a heap of quality in the saddle. She also has a two-from-two record as a trainer of point-to-pointers.