Ante-Post Plans / Paul Nicholls / 27 February 2011 / 5

Paul Nicholls tells us why he almost didn't run any of his horses at Kempton yesterday and what a pleasant surprise Zarkandar's run turned out to be.

When we arrived at Kempton yesterday, I turned round to Dan and said: "We may as well load the lorry back up and go straight home."

Because the ground was as soft as I have seen it at Kempton in a long, long, while and I very nearly pulled all my horses out.

Horses like Toubab, American Trilogy and Fistral Beach hated it - Fistral wouldnt stay 3m in that ground in an aeroplane - but there were some crumbs of comfort.

I thought Empire Levant ran a smashing race, and he now goes to Aintree, as does Toubab. They are just two of my horses that I can't wait to get on better ground.

But obviously the highlight of the day was Zarkandar.

As I said in yesterday's column, he was very difficult when we first got him but the team here at Ditcheat have done a great job of turning him around, and his win yesterday was a testament to their hard work.

The win surprised me. Although he goes really nicely at home now, I thought he would need more time and experience.

But he was very impressive - the time was very decent in the ground, too - and he now goes straight for the Triumph. We left plenty to work on going to Kempton and better ground will suit him, too.

We now look to have a very strong hand in the Triumph. Brampour flew in his work yesterday and is an improving animal, and of course we also have Sam Winner, who beat the current Triumph Hurdle favourite Grandouet by 15 lengths at Cheltenham in November, albeit getting 8lb.

I have said in the past that we also have the Supreme as an option for Sam Winner, but I won't make any decision until I sit down with Mrs Yeoman. It's nice to have two options for him, though.

Elsewhere, I chatted to Graham Roach this morning and the plan is to run Definity in the Centenary Novices' Handicap Chase on the opening day.

We have been given a chance off a mark of 136.

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(5)

1. paul | 27 February 2011

   how can you say the ground was so bad at kempton-race times say it was good/soft-soft in places.The horse that won the racing post chase QUINZ wants better ground says his trainer ,hobbs (ground could not have been that bad !).Toubab was the biggest disappointment for me ,and DONT blame the ground !.Either let the horse stride on and make the running,or change the jockey,to a jockey who can ride him (mcoy,walsh,jacob,costello etc..).You are ruining a decenthorse just like you did with chapoturgeon ! (you always blame the ground with that horse as well !).

2. derek weller | 27 February 2011

   As a AP Macoy fan, who decided to choose which horse he should ride on saturday, you can guess that i had backed the other paul nichols horse against zarkander, how can a horse win by a wide margin and mr nicholls states he was pleasantly surprised, was this a red herring. Remember the punters can generally only go on first choice jockeys bookings which we read through betfair in mr nicholls collumn.

3. Anonymous | 01 March 2011

   Don't think either of those comments should be taken seriously when they can't even spell the Champion Jockey's name correctly!

4. paul | 02 March 2011

   we are trying to make positive or negative comments about racing issues ,and all your concerned about is spelling,what a muppet !

5. peter | 03 March 2011

   derek, the only thing i think that suggested who was on the first choice horse was the betting. paul hasnt got a crystal ball and it is possible to be surprised how well a horse runs, as the small drift before the race will testify to

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