Everything just dandy for David Nicholls
David Nicholls and his team of sprinters are always feared at Goodwood. The Yorkshire trainer has won the Stewards’ Cup twice in the last 10 years and he is not too shabby elsewhere at the meeting.
Nicholls had won the Rolf Group Stewards’ Sprint, the consolation race for those who missed the cut in Stewards’ Cup itself, four times in the last 10 years and made it a one-two when Joseph Henry got the best of stable companion Victoire de Lyphar in a photo-finish.
The field split mainly into two groups as Adrian Nicholls had Victoire de Lyphar up front with another stable companion, King’s Wonder, of the pack raving down the far side as Joseph Henry, ridden by David Probert, led those racing down the centre of the track while We Have A Dream and Tiddlywinks briefly raced alone down the stands’ rail until they joined the rest of the field as the groups merged into the middle of the track.
It was left to the two Nicholls runners who fought it out with Victoire de Lyphar, a three-year-old, failing by just a head to concede 8lbs to the eight-year-old Joseph Henry. “He’s got plenty of early toe and I just kept saying he’s won over a mile so I just needed to keep going forward. And fair play to him he’s knuckled down and done the job well,” Probert said.
Nicholls, who ran six in the contest, said: “If you get given the right horses you can run them in the right races and win. That’s what they pay me to do. Fair play to the staff, the yard and the horses because they all ran blinders. It’s hard to come to a big meeting and get all the horses to run well on the day. It means a lot to the owners and everybody – it’s a big team effort. We live our life for it – stupidly some people might say.”
Nicholls has managed to turn handicappers like Ya Malak, Bahamian Pirate and Regal Parade into Group One winners and he left the impression that Victoire de Lyphar, who was having only his third run for the yard, could be the next in line. “One’s an experienced horse and the other is only a three-year-old,” Nicholls said. “I don’t know where he’ll end up – he’s only a young horse, just learning his trade.”
There is very little left for Nicholls to learn about his trade, especially when it comes to sprinters. He has three runners in the Stewards’ Cup but, if this race is any guide, he may not have got the best of the draw. The first four home were drawn 14, 18, 20, one and 22 while his three in the main event are Sonny Red (drawn seven) and Striking Spirit (five) and Evens And Odds (18).
Nicholls, surprisingly, did not have a runner in other the sprint handicap on the card, the Turf Club handicap, in which Kevin Ryan’s Perfect Blossom defied a 6lb penalty for her sixth wins form seven starts this season.
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