Nicholls title claim is not a Pipe dream

The Hennessy winner Strong Flow and the Tingle Creek Chase runner-up Azertyuiop are the jewels in the crown, and Nicholls has plenty of thinking to do over the next two weeks in order to plot which route to take to the Cheltenham Festival.

"We always thought Strong Flow was special but to see him go to Newbury and win the Hennessy like that was a tremendous thrill," he said.

"He could go for the King George if Best Mate misses the race, but we'll take our time before making a decision."

Ascot's Victor Chandler Chase could be on the agenda for Azertyuiop next month and Nicholls feels the six-year-old is a live contender for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

He said: "The Tingle Creek was effectively only his fifth run over fences and to go down by four lengths to Moscow Flyer certainly gives us hope that we can reverse the form at Cheltenham.

"We want to keep Ruby Walsh on him, so Ascot looks the likely option, and I haven't lost an ounce of faith in him."

Blending the traditional with the modern has been the preferred formula for Nicholls, who feels a similar approach is necessary if the National Hunt is to hold its own against the growing threat of all-weather racing.

"A lot of people have been making negative comments about the future of jumping recently, but I thought that last season was one of the best we've ever had and I've never had so many people wanting to spend good money for a nice horse," he said.

"That said, no one wants to see some of the mediocre rubbish that we were seeing earlier this season. The problem is there is just too much racing. I think that if you want more jumping to be more competitive then you have to have less of it."

Nicholls recognises that such a system would spell disaster for some of his colleagues but feels that changes are bound to come over the next few years.

"There's no way I would ever want to see some of the smaller jumping tracks close, but only the strong survive," he said. "It's possible we'll end up with a Premiership of jump racing and that wouldn't be a bad thing."

The Premiership must have seemed a long way off when Nicholls started training with eight horses in the Somerset village of Ditcheat 12 years ago.

"Our first aim was to have one winner, but I reckon we've had 900 since then and the 97 boxes here are full," he said. If you see him at the races say hello and inquire about his horses. But don't expect him to be too talkative if you ask him about the trainers' championship.

Paul's five to follow

Strong Flow: Touted as a threat to Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate after his runaway Hennessy win
Azertyuiop: Chased home the mighty Moscow Flyer at Sandown and sure to win more good races
Sporazene: Improving fast and pencilled in for Kempton's Christmas Hurdle after a luckless Newbury defeat
Bal De Nuit: Came up against the high-class Lord Sam on his Huntingdon chasing debut and sure to win soon
L'Ange Au Ciel: Only scrambled home at Exeter on his British debut but expected to improve considerably