Paul Nicholls 2026/27 National Hunt Season Preview: Three stable stars to follow

---

A good summer and a lot of new facilities for Team Ditcheat

The summer has been a good one for us. I've invested a lot in new facilities at Ditcheat, so we have a new Wexford sand canter, a new schooling facility which has already been useful.

I've bought lots of nice new young horses and recruited some good new owners, or they've recruited me, depending on how you want to look at it. It's exciting to look forward to a new season.

Lack of rain means we all have to be careful

We have just got to be a bit careful with the lack of rain we have had. With the all-weather gallops we've got, it's never a problem cracking on with them, but you don't want to get horses too ready and then not be able to run them. We've already seen Wincanton, Warwick, Kempton, and Exeter meetings called off and there are going to be issues if it doesn't rain soon for upcoming other meetings.

This year we are all going to need to be more patient. At Chepstow this weekend (9-11 October), for example, I will have four runners. Normally, I would have a dozen running there. The chase races at Chepstow were cancelled and may go elsewhere.

The lack of rain makes life tricky but at this time of year we are always on a knife-edge, worrying about the ground and hoping for rain. Hopefully we can get the rain that means we can crack on in November, December and January, get plenty of experience and find out what we've got.

On the prospect of beating Martin Pipe's record and reaching 4,000 winners

I think I'm eight short of beating Martin Pipe's record of GB National Hunt winners and need 48 winners to have 4,000 across all codes. Those are great milestones and it would be nice to think we could crack both this season. If so, I will be looking forward to reaching 5,000 winners!

In the meantime, we will definitely take the staff out and have a good time celebrating when we get it done.

When I started as a trainer, I never thought we'd get near these sorts of numbers. We have been incredibly lucky. It shows what a fantastic place Ditcheat is and that when it works it works very well. A lot of our success is about the players we have in our team and hopefully we are building up a nice team again over the next few years.

My big aim for the season

We have earned over £2m in prize money for the owners over the last 24 seasons and hope to do so again this year. I always like to get 100 winners for the season but that is just a number and really what we want to do is just keep winning and training young horses who might be the future.

---

Paul's three stable stars for the 2026/27 season

I have a lot of good horses at Ditcheat and a lot that have the potential to be very good, but only time will tell with a lot of our stable, so for now I'd name these three Grade 1 and 2 winners as my stable stars to follow this season.

⭐ Caldwell Potter ⭐

8yo grey gelding

NH Form:  8163/211/13211/

• Sire: Martaline (GB)
• Dam: Matnie (FR)
• Dam's Sire: Laveron (GB)

It is a shame that he missed last season with an injury, but it won't be lost on him and a bit of time off the track has not done him any harm. I love winning the Betfair Chase, I've won it six times and would love to win it again. I don't think I'll have him ready to win the Betfair Chase this season, but I may start him off in it, because he needs to go left-handed, and he should be ready to run. We've done a lot with him already and have still got plenty of time.

In the spring there are targets and, whether he ends up being a Cheltenham Gold Cup horse or a Ryanair horse, he will tell us by then. Or whether we run him in something like the Cotswold Chase, that again will tell us if he truly is a stayer.

I will enter him in Ireland over Christmas, or in February. Three miles at Leopardstown, where he's won before, would suit him, even though those races are ultra-competitive, because there's nothing much for him in the UK at the time. I just want to get him back on track as he is a hugely exciting horse. 

---

Now read which other chasers Paul suggests following this season

---

⭐ No Drama This End ⭐

6yo grey gelding

NH Form:  1/19/111P1-

• Sire: Walk In The Park (IRE)
• Dam: La Segnora (FR)
• Dam's Sire: Turgeon (USA)

I always thought he would get three miles, and I probably should've run him in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He's won a Challow Hurdle, probably not the strongest one but he won it very well.

The horses with which I've won the Challow have been fantastic chasers like Denman, Bravemansgame, Stage Star etc so I'd like to think No Drama This End might follow down that route and be a better chaser than hurdler. He won't run until the ground gets soft or easy as he needs plenty of cut.

---

Check out Paul's batch of hurdlers worth following this season

---

⭐ Regent's Stroll ⭐

7yo bay gelding

NH Form:  11/14212/31232-

• Sire: Walk In The Park (IRE)
• Dam: Pretty Puttens (IRE)
• Dam's Sire: Snurge (IRE)

There is a lot of improvement to come from him. We haven't seen the best of him, mentally as much as anything, and physically he was always going to take a while. I think he was struggling with his breathing, in fact I know he was, so he had a wind-op in the summer which helped him mentally and he's a much more relaxed horse this year. He's grown up.

I've always thought a good second season novice has a chance in something like the Coral Gold Cup so he might have one run somewhere before, in something like the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase, or he could go straight to the Coral Gold Cup, which we have won four times and twice as a jockey. 

There is more to come from him. The Grand National is not on the cards for him this year, although maybe one day, and to be a Cheltenham Gold Cup horses he must improve a lot. But you never know. 

---

Bookmark Paul Nicholls' Betfair blog and read his runners previews every week of the season

---