 |
|
| Staff Writer |
 |  |
For Adrian Nicholls, training was never something he imagined doing but as he would learn no matter what he did all paths would lead home.
Having been born in Yorkshire Nicholls lives with his family not too far from where he was born as he said.
“Where I was born is really not too far from where I live now.
“Apart from being away racing, it's where I've grown up and spent all my life.”
His wife and himself have grown up around horses and they have been a major part of their life.
“My dad was a jockey. I got the nickname ‘Trotter’ from following him around in the jocks' room. From a very young age, I went racing with him most days.
His father, David, was a flat track jockey who recorded 420 winners before struggling with his weight.
“My childhood was around going with him really. That’s how I knew all of the jockeys and was a racing fan from a very young age.”
“I got into it as soon as I could ride. There was a loophole in Norway where you could ride a year younger than you can in the UK. I went there when I was 15 and had my first ride on my 15th birthday.”
After three months of riding he would team up with Barry Hills at his legendary stables as a stable apprentice going on to work and learn under him for one and a half years.
Adrian was then offered a role at Kingsclere Stables as a stable apprentice to Derby-winning trainer, Ian Balding. The knowledge and experience with these two greats of the sport helped Nicholls build up his ability and within three years saw him claim the Ayr Gold Cup.
Always The Jockey But Never The Trainer
His career saw him riding multiple groups and listed winners including two Group Ones, as Nicholls will tell you he made a decent career in the saddle over two decades.
However, as he said he never had any want to train initially.
“I did a good career out of it, being a jockey.
“To be honest I never had any inkling about training. I always just wanted to be a jockey.”
“It’s all I ever wanted to do, and I did it from the moment I was 15. And then obviously it was 16 in the UK. So, I had my first ride in the UK on my 16th birthday.”
Together with his wife Clare, who also comes from a racing family, Nicholls began to think about what was next once his time in the saddle came to an end.
“Well, me and my wife, when we had two children, we started looking after a few at one point.
“My father had like 120 horses in training. So we had five or six of the older ones on you know on livery, giving them a holiday and we got the idea from there.
“We broke a few in and when I retired, I took a year out and went to the Doncaster Racing College and it taught there for a year whilst I was doing my training modules.
“The more I was getting into the training modules it was something that we made plans to do and thank god we did because it’s been a success so far.”
Having had his training licence for five years now it has been a career that has seen success along with having trained some memorable names.
“I had that year out where I wasn’t riding out and I wasn’t around horses as much.
“I was just teaching the students at the college and then once we jumped through all the hoops you have to jump through in the UK to get your training licence it was then when we set off.
“When we first started we had two horses and we’ve done quite well in a short period of time.”
The team is a real family affair growing from the legacy that his father and his wife’s family paved before them, and as Adrian said that is sure to continue.
“Well obviously, Claire was an apprentice jockey. Her brothers and her father both trained in Ireland. So she's from a racing background in Ireland, and she's very knowledgeable. So it was the natural progression for her.
“My name may be on the license but she is much of the trainer as I am, she is very good with all of the horses with their legs and making sure they all stay healthy.
“My daughter, Mia, is an apprentice and she's just started this season. My son, Jack, is doing his amateur course currently.
“I'm doing it for me and Claire, but obviously, with the two kids wanting to ride it gives me an extra incentive.
“I’m all about winning anyway, you have to be, we are in that kind of sport where you’ve got to be a winner.
“But if I can help them get a bit of a head starts in this industry then that’s an added bonus.’
Big Wins Over The Years
“Obviously, you will always remember your first winner Sir Lancelot at Wolverhampton,” says Nicholls as he fondly looks back on some of the highlights of his career to date.
“It was a dreary old night in a hands and heels apprentice race, but at that point, we only had two horses so you know it was obviously great.
“It took us a few months to get off the mark because in the winter over here, it's low-level racing but it’s very competitive.
“Then the main two would be Mamba Wamba, she was a very good filly. She was a Stakes filly.”
“Then Mo Celita, she was purchased for basically nothing and she went on to win a Listed race with Holly Doyle.”
The race was the Moonlight Cloud Listed Stakes at Deauville and hoop Holly Doyle rode her to a win by a third of a length over Prince Lancelot.
“The last two seasons we've had a Stakes winner each season and we won the Epsom Dash on Derby Day.
“That was a big thing for us because my father was nicknamed ‘the King Of Sprints’ because he won all of the sprints in Europe and Group Ones and it was five years to the day since he had passed.
“To win that race on that day with Tee’s Spirit, it’s up there with the Stakes winner because it’s such a competitive race and the win was a big feat.”
 |  |  |
The Homestead
The Adrian Nicholls racing team is proud of their reputation as the home of happy horses and the stable has had the privilege to be able to repay the trust placed in them by their owners, as the trainer said.
“We've got 30 at the moment. We started off late with a very little number and we've built up a good connection of owners and we do pride ourselves on that.
“I didn’t make it up myself. I train quite like my father in how we turn the horses out in the great condition.
“I feel in a bigger yard they can grow a bit stale when there is a big number and they get into more of a factory routine where they're doing the same repetitive thing.
“Some yards in Newmarket for example where they do the same gallops and the training is very much the same with every horse.
“With a smaller number, we are able to train them more individually. Obviously more horses bring more success but we like to be able to give every horse the best and in return get the best from each and every one.
“We like to think we can win with each of the horses we train.”
Meydan Calling
He now prepares Tee’s Spirit for the Dubai campaign after he joined the stable from the Jason Ward yard in 2021. The 5YO gelded son of Swiss Spirit has won a Listed class race in Tipperary along with another five wins and five placings from 16 starts with Nicholls.
In his last start he ran last in a Group One in Longchamp, Nicholls said he was still confident in his ability despite the performance.
“When we declared him in France in the Group One Prix del’Abbaye, it was good ground.
“We had two horses in the race with Mo Celita and him. Barry McHugh, the stable jockey, rode him but when we go there, I rode him out with my son and it didn’t stop raining for two days and ended up being heavy ground.
“He wants top of the ground and to race against champion horses like he was he needs a better ground. So, he ran there and he came back and he was a little tired after that.
“So, we freshened him up and he is back in full training now. He has been entered into Dubai, he may struggle to get in off of his 104 ratings.
“If he doesn’t go there he’ll go to Newmarket for the Group Three Palace House Stakes probably and then I will plan his route and hopefully get another Stakes win into him.
“If that’s the route we end up taking then all of my plans for him will be around the Carnival next season and planned around the Dubai World Cup.
“I plan to send him to Dubai for the full Carnival next season if plans don’t play out this year.”
Having established great connections throughout his career it is one friendship that may bode the strongest for future Dubai campaigns. That connection is with Tadhg O’Shea who is currently dominating the tracks of the UAE and sits atop the Jockey Championship ladder five wins clear of the next best. He is also edging out on his riding record from his best season last year which saw the 41-year-old hoop take 68 wins and amass $11.6 million in prize money.
“I’m close friends with O’Shea and talk with him often about racing over there, obviously having won a championship and looking based on numbers to do it again this year.
“To take a horse over there you have to have given them a break and take them over for the whole season.
“But if he is selected for Golden Shaheen or Al Quoz Sprint I will obviously take him this year.
“Over here we can still go the handicap route but there isn’t a whole heap of difference between the Listed races and the Group Three’s, the same horses will contest the same races. You could finish tenth in a handicap and still rank well.
“He (Tee’s Spirit) is already a Stakes winner and the horse that was behind him finished second in a Group One in Tipperary so I’ve got no doubt that it's competitive no matter where you go but there are a lot of options.
“The owners will probably want to go to Royal Ascot, there are a few races in France also I would like to target and I won’t be so pushed to go back to France in October but rather rest him for Dubai.
“If he does get his rating up to 110-113 then there are even greater options for him including the Breeders’ Cup or Hong Kong.
“The horses are there and if they have the opportunity to race in those big races around the world then I won’t be afraid to travel with them, especially when you find the right horses to travel with.”
Even with a smaller stable Nicholls said there are still some stars and younger types to show what they have to offer on the track.
“There was a horse last year that was a little disappointing.
“Me and Barry (McHugh, stable jockey) were having a heated debate last year at the start of the season. A horse called Thornaby Pearl, if he puts in what he does at home he'll be equal and hopefully be the Tee’s Spirit.
“Last year if you were to put a gun in my mouth and told me to pick one of the horses I would have chosen Thornaby Pearl over Tee’s Spirit.
“They were work partners and he ran well in defeat and he has finished second a few times. He has won for us but he looks so good this year.
“He has had a few feet issues but we’ve sorted them out and I’m hoping he shows what he has. He is at the right end of the handicap to progress and I really hope he can start to show what he does at home on the track.”
It’s not a question of if Tee’s Spirit campaigns in Dubai but when and in doing so will be the first runner that Nicholls has had in the UAE or the Middle East.
Iconic International Races
“Mamba Wamba was my first real Stakes horse and when she was here was meant to go to Qatar for the HH Amir Sword Festival but unfortunately we couldn’t travel because of COVID. That decision, not to travel with him, was made literally an hour before we were getting on the flight.
“So, if I've got anything that's able to travel to I would love to do it. As I said I speak with Tadhg O’Shea and Richie Mullen (another jockey showcasing his skills in the UAE), I used to live with them both when I was in Dubai.
“I would love to have a filly I could take over there, I’m not stupid and I know the mile and quarter and mile and half are very Godolphin-dominated there.
“I think the sprints and 3YO races are the races to target because I feel they are the ‘weaker’ of the races.
“I rode for six or seven seasons out there and I think for racing there you need the right horse, I'm not just saying rating wise I think something that can be acclimatized well.
“A lot of horses go there from the UK and they find it hard especially coming back. It’s great to go to Dubai and the prize money is very good and it’s a great incentive but sometimes you lose the horse for the season ahead as a result.”
With dreams of preparing horses in Dubai Nicholls also mentioned candidly some other races he would love to race in.
“I don't know if I'll ever have a horse good enough, probably not, but I would love a runner in the Arc De Triomphe. As a jockey and a trainer, I have always liked French racing and I think they do it the right way.
“I'd like to come over to Australia. It’s one place I have never got to go as a jockey or trainer, and I just think Australians have the best sprinters. So, if I had something that was good enough to go down and have a crack that would be something that would be great.”
In a life that has seen him around horses either as a fan, jockey or trainer Nicholls has learned a lot along the way but the true lesson for him was simple and had stood him well in his career.
“Patience and becoming a better loser.
“When I was riding there would be another race in half an hour and you can soon get out onto the next one.
“As a trainer, you have to speak to the owners and pick up the pieces a lot of the time, it took me a little while to come to terms with that part of it.”