As for STD it seems clear PN is happy to share the rides about with Cobden and Frost . There is no way for example Frost would have kept the ride on Black Corton had Ruby still been Nicholls No 1.
As for STD it seems clear PN is happy to share the rides about with Cobden and Frost . There is no way for example Frost would have kept the ride on Black Corton had Ruby still been Nicholls No 1.
Nicholls has done well to still be second in the trainer's table given how thin his team is on real quality.
He doesn't have a single runner in any of the graded novice Hurdles at the festival.
Only six left in the fourteen Grade 1 races, of which only Black Corton, Politiogue and Modus are generally priced lower than 14/1.
No runners in the four Grade 1 races on Tuesday.
Matt Chapman, I thought, didn't play his cards well this morning about this issue.
Bryony Frost didn't get as many rides as Cobden and was really only put up on those she either got on well with or off which she could claim her allowance. She proved time and again she's as good as most males and better than many.
I suspect it suits Nicholls to keep a few jockeys vying for rides rather than rely on one main retained rider. Hendo does it to a degree too with NdB not always getting the choice.
At the end of the day it isn't really that big a deal but they could have made the announcement much earlier when it was already evident that Sam T-D was no longer the main man. From a PR perspective, they've probably rescued the situation to an extent by allowing Sam to claim it's his decision to go freelance and spin the new arrangement as a positive.
Last edited by Desert Orchid; 5th May 2018 at 11:43 AM.
Illegitimi non carborundum
Like Sam gives a fook............Betya 100$ he has more winners than anyone attached to PN has
Formely Fist of Fury
He'll miss the retainer....and will RP keep him on, which is also a hefty amount of money? Although the column is usually more about his Dad's horses than Nicholls'.
Didn't think he was paid a retainer GG.
Yes he was. Maybe not formally called one as such, but he was being paid to be stable jockey.
Last edited by G-G; 11th May 2018 at 8:50 AM.
I don't think it's ever been so obvious why PN is using others than it was in the 6.30 at Towcester. Brian Hughes absolutely outclassed him from the last.
Swap jockeys and Hughes would still have won ..........100% certainty
Formely Fist of Fury