Paul Nicholls was officially crowned champion National Hunt trainer for a seventh time as the curtain came down on the British jumps season at Sandown.
Nicholls had been in an engrossing tussle with Nicky Henderson for large parts of the season but produced the knockout blow when Neptune Collonges landed the John Smith’s Grand National.
In getting up by a nose, the John Hales-owned grey also gave Nicholls a first triumph in the Aintree spectacular.
Cheltenham did not go entirely plan but still produced two big results, while Kauto Star rolling back the years to claim a fifth King George VI Chase was yet another highlight of a season to remember.
“It’s been a fantastic season for us,” Nicholls said.
“We’ve won over STG3 million ($A4.71 million) in prizemoney, won the trainers’ title again and we’ve had some great days along the way.
“Seeing Kauto Star in the Betfair Chase at Haydock was awesome and the King George was another awesome performance and an awesome day.
“We didn’t have the best Cheltenham and we had one or two coughing in the weeks leading up to it which wasn’t ideal, but Big Buck’s still won his fourth World Hurdle, so that was a fantastic day, and we won the Champion Hurdle for the first time with Rock On Ruby.
“We had a good Aintree and winning the National was just the icing on the cake.”
With Henderson saddling the first three winners on Grand National day, even Nicholls admitted he thought he was losing his grip on the title until his grey claimed the narrowest of victories in the world’s most famous steeplechase.
“The title race has been fantastic for racing, I think,” Nicholls said.
“We were just taking it race by race and obviously winning the National, fortunately for us and unfortunately for Nicky, just swung it back our way.”
Henderson has Sprinter Sacre, Finian’s Rainbow and Simonsig to call on, so is likely to put up an even bigger fight for the title next season.
Nicholls acknowledges himself that with the likes of Denman and Neptune Collonges having retired and the great Kauto Star’s future still undecided, he faces an uphill task to make it title number eight next year.
