Nicholls vows to return stronger after century miss

FOR many trainers, ending the season with 99 winners and over £2.5million in prize-money would be a job well done - but Paul Nicholls is gunning to come back stronger.

- REPORT BY ADAM MORGAN - PA

Nicholls has been champion trainer 14 times, so watching Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton fight it out for the title for the last two seasons has not sat well with the fiercely-competitive master of Ditcheat.

However, there were green shoots in the spring, with the likes of Caldwell Potter, who won at both Cheltenham and Aintree, Kalif Du Berlais, Blueking d’Oroux, Regent's Stroll and Quebecois all showing they have bright futures next term.

Barring the covid-affected season of 2019-20, the campaign just finished was Nicholls’ worst numerically since 2000-01.

"Hopefully next year we have some really smart horses coming through and hopefully we can have a thin-out and get some more in and really look forward to next season," said Nicholls.