Paul-Nicholls on The Race Lab

Ten Years of Beaten Favourites: The Greatwood Gold Cup's Curse Continues at Newbury

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Vincenzo is 5/2 favourite for Saturday’s Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury. He was runner-up in the race last year, he’s won two of his last four starts, and Sam Thomas’s stable is flying. The obvious pick.

Which is precisely the problem.

A Decade of Market Misery

SmartForm data reveals that no market leader has won the Greatwood Gold Cup since Sound Investment in 2015 — a run of ten consecutive beaten favourites that includes some short-priced casualties:

The Numbers Behind Dan Skelton's Trainers' Championship Charge

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Dan Skelton doesn’t do press conferences. He doesn’t cultivate mystique. He just sends out horses — a lot of them — and an increasingly alarming percentage of them win.

With the season entering its business end, Skelton sits clear in the Trainers’ Championship race, and SmartForm data shows why: 127 winners from 762 runners this season at a 16.7% strike rate, with an extraordinary 43.3% of his runners finishing in the first three.

Tutti Quanti: Can Nicholls' Rapidly Improving Hurdler Gatecrash the Champion Hurdle?

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Paul Nicholls doesn’t do things quietly. After Tutti Quanti demolished a strong field in the William Hill Hurdle at Newbury last Saturday, the 14-time champion trainer dropped a bombshell: the Champion Hurdle is under serious consideration.

“We’re going to really consider the Champion Hurdle if it keeps on raining and the ground is on the slow side,” Nicholls wrote in his Betfair blog this week. “The way he won last Saturday suggests he’s rapidly improving and when they’re improving you never know where their ceiling might be.”

Pic D'Orhy's Ascot Chase Hat-Trick Bid: A Race Against History

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Pic D’Orhy returns to Ascot this Saturday with history in his sights. Paul Nicholls’ nine-year-old is bidding to become the first horse ever to win three consecutive renewals of the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase.

The French-bred gelding has already achieved something rare. His victories in 2024 and 2025 make him the first back-to-back winner since Riverside Theatre completed the double in 2011 and 2012. But a three-peat? That would be uncharted territory.

Tutti Quanti's 12st Triumph: The Heaviest Weight Ever in the William Hill Hurdle

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:15:00 +0000

Harry Cobden barely had to move. Tutti Quanti simply galloped his rivals into submission at Newbury on Saturday, hitting the line fifteen lengths clear with theCommentary barely breaking stride. But it wasn’t just the margin that raised eyebrows—it was the weight he was lumping around.

Twelve stone. In a fiercely competitive two-mile handicap hurdle. First time ever.

According to SmartForm data, no horse in the modern history of the William Hill Hurdle (formerly the Betfair Hurdle) has won carrying 168lbs. The previous benchmark was 162lbs—a mark shared by five different winners including Glory And Fortune (2022), Iberico Lord (2024), and Paul Nicholls’ own Pic D’Orhy (2020).

Tutti Quanti's 15-Length Annihilation: A Champion Hurdle Supplementary Shock in the Making?

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Paul Nicholls knows a thing or two about extracting championship performances from handicap stars. Saturday’s demolition job at Newbury suggested he might have another on his hands.

Tutti Quanti didn’t just win the William Hill Hurdle — he brutalised the opposition. Fifteen lengths clear carrying 12 stone on heavy ground, the French-bred seven-year-old became the first horse to lift this prize under such a crushing burden. The record books didn’t stand a chance.