Trainer Paul Nicholls is ready for action at this year’s King George in Kempton this Saturday as he hopes to win it for a record 12th time. Nicholls has four horses in the race, including Clan Des Obeaux, the defending champion of the race who won it in 2018 also.
Another horse Nicholls is sending to the field is Cyrname, who raced with Clan last year but was not able to get past the champion horse. Still, Nicholls believes Cyrname deserves a chance at this year’s race. Clan, who is aiming for a hat trick at King George, is a horse part-owned by legendary football manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who Nicholls believes is always looking forward.
On his decision to run Clan and Cyrname again this year, Nicholls said, “Clan is the defending champ, he’s won two and you do get horses winning multiple King Georges. To win three would be brilliant, but Cyrname has a good record around Kempton and is in a completely different place compared to last year. I don’t think there’s much between Cyrname and Clan. Clan has the advantage as he has such a great track record and has won the last two, so it will be very interesting.” The champion trainer believes Cyrname has had ideal preparation and has had a great record at Kempton. Besides the two horses, Nicholls also has Frodon and Real Steel in the competition.
Nicholls began winning the event in the late 1990s and has produced 11 out of the last 23 winners. Some of his previous winners include See More Business and Silviniaco Conti. Nicholls has always admitted love for the race and in winning races, and as to when he plans to retire, he said, “I’ve never even questioned or thought about when I might pack up, I couldn’t see it happening.” So we are not seeing the last of Nicholls anytime soon.
Written by: Leon Osamor
