Paul Nicholls: 'Dan will win it one day and I'll be proud - but still annoyed'

On a mild December afternoon at Wincanton, Paul Nicholls is in his element. He doesn't go racing as often as he used to, but Wincanton is local – "only ten minutes back to the pub," as he reminds us – and it would almost be rude not to.

In the winner's enclosure after the success of Rainyday Woman, Nicholls is his usual raceday self: affable, happy to be where he is – even at 1-2 in a Class 4 novice hurdle – and still 'one of us', even though he entered a different stratosphere quite some time ago.

This, though, is simply a middling day on a friendly country racecourse. Rainyday Woman is bound for better things, Nicholls likewise, and next time it won't be over a lovely plate of sandwiches in his private box. Next time for the 12-time champion trainer will be a Saturday at somewhere rather more brutal; or maybe Kempton on Boxing Day, when the festive peace of Sunbury-on-Thames will be shattered by the booming of some of the game's biggest guns.