LEGENDARY racehorse trainer Paul Nicholls has been subjected to a blistering attack by a pro punter, who declared: “His horses are rubbish!”
Big racing personality Johnny Dineen said he is ‘worried’ about the 14-time champion trainer, who has a mega squad of talent for this season.
Among them are former world-record purchases Regent’s Stroll and Caldwell Potter, bought in-part by none other than Sir Alex Ferguson.
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But despite the hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent, Dineen reckons Nicholls – who appeared alongside on a live show a matter of days ago – is struggling for true top class talent to take on the Irish.
In a truly withering attack on a giant of the sport, respected punter Dineen said on the Racing Post’s Upping The Ante show: “Paul Nicholls is a great operator, a great trainer, but he just doesn’t have the horses to compete.
“His horses are rubbish. I looked at his runners for the last 21 days and I didn’t realise that he has such bad horses.
“It’s like at Man United, the problem is the sourcing of the horses – whoever is in charge of sourcing the horses is not doing a good job.
“The fellas who are buying the likes of (Raphael) Varane, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen are buying players well past their sell-by date.
“I’m giving up on Caldwell Potter, definitely.
“Kalif Du Berlais didn’t impress me much at Newbury.
“Ginny’s Destiny is a complete and utter write-off.
“I’m worried for Paul Nicholls, bar Regent’s Stroll, who could potentially be a top-class horse, but he’s still a double-figure price to win a race at Cheltenham.”
Nicholls will be readying his troops for the hectic Christmas schedule, which includes the likes of Bravemansgame in the King George.
But he was left cursing jockey Lorcan Williams on Thursday after he looked to break whip rules in his winning ride on Captain Bellamy at Newbury.
The five-year-old was first past the post in the two and a half mile novice hurdle after coming out on top in a driving finish with De Kingpin.
But Williams, who is third in the pecking order at Ditcheat these days behind Harry Cobden and Freddie Gingell, appeared to use the whip 11 times – triggering an automatic disqualification.
The whip limit is seven over jumps and six on the Flat, and if a rider goes four or more over that cut-off point they are DQ’d.
Nicholls raged: “Rules are rules, I counted 11 straight away so he’ll lose the race now.
“If seven is the (limit) and you use it 11 times, I haven’t got any sympathy whatsoever. Whether you like the rules or not, you’ve got to abide by them.
“There is no excuse, they are professional jockeys and they know the rules. It’s frustrating for the owners because he is a lovely horse.”
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