During his time as a jump jockey that yielded 119 winners Paul was always looking ahead to the day when he could try his hand as a trainer. All he needed was a chance. It came from Ditcheat farmer Paul Barber who chose him from more than a dozen applicants.

Single minded to the point of obsession, the eager young trainer acknowledged that he had plenty to learn and was not afraid to make mistakes. It helped no end that from the start he has been supported to the hilt by his new landlord.

In the years that followed Paul Nicholls’ accumulation of glory has included close on 150 Grade 1 winners, fourteen trainers’ championships, four Cheltenham Gold Cups, a Grand National and the King George V1 Chase an astonishing thirteen times.

Apart from the campaign cut short by the pandemic in 2019-20 he has delivered a century of winners for the last twenty two seasons at a consistently high strike record and recorded a personal best total of 176 in 2020-21

In April this year he ended last season with an outstanding strike record of 27% together with a personal record total in prize money of £3,646,585.

Paul was immensely proud to be awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 2020. That followed a lengthy visit to the yard by the late Queen who spent time meeting his family and staff and inspecting at close quarters some of his better known horses.

Late in April 2022 he saved the best to last of another prolific campaign by training five of the seven winners at Sandown on the final day of the season.

Earlier in his career he handled a quartet of champions at the same time with a calm sureness of touch as Kauto Star, Master Minded, Denman and Big Buck’s carried all before them in the races that matter most in the jumping calendar.

Horses of such rare quality don’t come along too often and once they retired the task of finding replacements proved challenging. Yet soon Silviniaco Conti, Dodging Bullets, Politologue and several others proved well up to the task at the highest level.

In recent years Paul has developed an increasingly fruitful system by annually securing at the sales a number of beautifully bred young store horses that he hopes and believes can develop into the stars of the future along with others bought after showing smart form in bumpers and Point-to-Points.

His brigade of three and four years olds start their education with record breaking Point-to-Point champion Will Biddick before taking the next step in bumpers the following season. This firmly established conveyor belt of raw, natural equine talent continues to pay rich dividends.

Stay Away Fay, Knappers Hill, Hermes Allen, Stage Star, Rubaud and Henri The Second are among the latest group of graduates to shine with two dozen or more promising younger types yet to be seen on a racecourse.