Paul Nicholls: Jakar Du Moulin is my best chance on Easter Weekend

Paul Nicholls' Saturday runners at Haydock

14:46 Haydock - Jakar Du Moulin

He went up 8lbs for winning a uncompetitive race at Doncaster last time but he won nicely and seems progressive. He qualified for this £40K race so we thought we would let him take his chance. It will probably be his last run before he goes chasing, unless we send him to Ayr in a couple of weeks, and he will need to up his game again here. He is fit and well, will love the ground and wouldn't want too much more rain. He is probably my best chance of the weekend.

15:20 Haydock - Outlaw Peter

We thought we would go with the tongue strap, as well as the cheek-pieces, just to try something a little bit different with Outlaw Peter. I thought the last day he finished a little tamely, but he is in good shape. This is a much more competitive race with 17 runners, so it has turned out to be one hell of a race. He ran well the last day, so we thought we would have a go at this, but it is extremely competitive.

Paul Nicholls' Saturday runners at Newton Abbot

14:00  Newton Abbot - JPR Two

He's a big, strong horse who needs time and will want to run further. I did not want to run him in another bumper, so he will probably have this run, perform nicely, then go away for the summer and we can come back a novice in the autumn. He is a horse for next season.

15:49 Newton Abbot - Tahmuras

He had the blinkers on last time at Windsor, the flat track suited him and I see no reason why the same won't be true at Newton Abbot. Jay Tidball is taking five off (Freddie Keighley rode Tahmuras last time but has broken his collar bone and is out for two to three weeks) and I can see him running really well.

16:20 Newton Abbot - Kruger Park

He is a bit in and out, after winning on Boxing Day but failing to perform at Newbury in February, and that is an understatement to be honest. But he likes cut in the ground, as does my other horse in this race, and the ground here on Saturday has gone from looking like it might be soft to looking good/good to soft.

I wouldn't want it to dry up too much more for either of my horses. If there is a bit of dig in the ground, they will both run, but if not, they might not, so watch it on the day.

16:20 Newton Abbot - Rickety Bridge

He needed the run badly at Chepstow in February and we knew that. As mentioned above, he likes cut in the ground, but he will go chasing after this run.

It is so frustrating that there isn't more rain at the moment. At lot of these horses want more cut and we are running out of time a bit, so hopefully it will rain very soon.

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