Paul Nicholls: 'I think it's sad when people don't seem to enjoy big moments'

I've never played poker against Paul Nicholls but I'm beginning to think it might be a profitable venture. In a game apparently invented for the benefit of the inscrutable and the enigmatic, the champion trainer – although a master in his chosen field – would surely find himself at an irredeemable disadvantage, given away by his wholly readable and endearingly enthusiastic mannerisms.

You'd think he'd be over it by now, after 28 years as a trainer, encompassing 11 titles and untold multiple successes in all manner of Grade 1 races, but still he can't disguise the fact he's hopelessly in love with jump racing. It matters to him more than anything in the world and he doesn't care who knows about it.

Last month's Christy 1965 Chase was a case in point. It was 'only' a Grade 2 and Nicholls had landed it six times before, but he greeted Cyrname's victory over Altior as though it were the first win of his career and the final leg of a life-changing accumulator to boot. Nothing guarded or unfathomable about it – this was the reaction of an enthusiast who might be mistaken for a fanatic.