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Paul Nicholls has seven runners at Newbury on Monday
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No Drama This End the star of the show in the Challow Hurdle
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Good each-way chances given to Brave Kingdon and Meatloaf
Paul on his festive runners so far and the King George
We've had a successful Christmas period so far with a number of winners. Absolutely Doyen is improving at a rate of knots, he won very nicely at Wincanton. Kruger Park wasn't winning out of turn, and it was obviously a fantastic Saturday with Viroflay winning.
We've done a lot of work on getting him super fit. He wasn't quite finishing his races as strong as he could, so we've done a lot of work on his fitness, got him super fit and well, it' the best I've seen him look.
Olive rode him really well so to have a nice winner like that after all the hard work that has gone into him, and for Olive to ride a winner for me that was brilliant.
And of course this followed on from an awesome King George Chase on Boxing Day. That's what you want to see, four nice horses going to the last, all with a chance. You had a job to pick the winner halfway up the run-in and if you ran the race four times you could end up with four different winners, it was a fantastic race.
All credit to the winner, The Jukebox Man, I expect he'll go well in the Gold Cup but there wasn't a lot between any of those four and they're all high-class horses.
Paul on his Monday Newbury runners
12:05 - Miss Altea Blue
She goes here off a mark of 120 and I'm sure that's workable. She's a nice filly, it's a good race, she'll get two and a half miles which might just help around Newbury. Good to soft ground is perfect, I wouldn't want it too soft. It's a competitive little race but she's in good form.
12:40 - Minella Yoga
He' a lovely big chasing three-year-old, when you look at him you wouldn't even think he's a three-year-old. He won very well at Fairyhouse and we thought about running him at Kempton on Saturday but it was good ground at it might have just been too tight a track for him having won at Fairyhouse.
It's a task taking on the older horses but he's getting 15lb off them and he doesn't get a penalty because he won a Juvenile Introductory Hurdle at Fairyhouse, so he escapes a penalty. In fact he's getting 20lb off Act Of Innocence who I know myself is a smart horse, but 20lb is a lot to get and we have to start him off somewhere.
It's a big galloping track and I'm really looking forward to seeing him run.
13:15 - Mon Champion
I think he'll go well off a mark of 113. He probably wants a little bit further and he wouldn't mind really soft ground but at the moment we don't have that, but he should be competitive off this mark.
13:50 - Brave Kingdom
He's a hard horse to train, he's hard to get ready at home first time up, he's had lots of problems as his recent record shows so he needed the run the last day in which I thought he ran okay as the idea was to get a run into him ahead of this race.
He's a lot sharper now, three and a quarter miles will suit him better, he just doesn't want the ground to dry out any more. But I'll think he'll leave his previous run behind him, he just needed that run.
But as I said, he's a very hard horse to get right, you wouldn't be taking him to any racecourse gallops, you just can't. But I have a feeling he'll improve tonnes for that run the other day and I think he'll run okay, he's a nice each-way price.
14:22 - Meatloaf
Two miles was too sharp the last day he's been crying out for two and a half. He ran well at Newbury on his debut but this will be his last run before going chasing. I just thought Freddie Keighley taking 7lb off it means he's running off a really nice low mark and I wouldn't be surprised if he was in th first four.
15:00 - No Drama This End
I've won the Challow six times with the likes of Denman, Bravemansgame, Stage Star and Hermes Allen, they were great horses and won a lot of races. Gold Cup winners and King George winners come out of this race so it's a contest well worth winning.
No Drama This End is unbeaten this season but I'm always a bit nervous about running them quickly, but having said that all we get these days is criticism for not running them enough, and when you do run them quickly you get criticised for that, so it's a no-win situation!
But if you look back at the records of some of the horses we had in the past when we were flying along, those horses used to run regularly. And it's not as if No Drama This End has had too hard of a race in his two wins and he seems in great shape.
If I had a reason not to run him he wouldn't run but we've checked his bloods which is something we don't normally do, we've done everything and he appears to be in great shape.
He's had three weeks since his last run and if he goes to Cheltenham after this he's going to have a long break between now and then, so as long as the race doesn't come too soon then we're very happy with him.
It's a good contest, he doesn't get a penalty for winning a Grade 2 and he deserves to take his chance. After the race we'll make a plan for him for the spring.
In terms of form he compares well with my previous winners of this race as he's had two runs and won two Grade 2s, not many of those others achieved that, but they were all good horses, all nice staying-chasers and he's right up there with them. I'm sure if he reproduces his last two runs he'll be hard to beat, he's a very smart horse.
15:35 - Captain Bellamy
Two miles on fast ground was too sharp for him the last day, this is probably the first time he's got a more realistic trip. He won over two and half in the spring over hurdles but lost the race in the stewards room.
He ran well here on his chase debut, he jumped nicely but as we know two miles was too sharp. He would probably like soft ground to be at his very best but he's got a chance in a very competitive race, it looks hot.