Fighting talk yet to start, but expect big guns to be up for title tussle

When Paul Nicholls hosted his annual owners' day at the start of this month he told his patrons that chasing an 11th trainers' title would not be at the top of his agenda this season.

Nicholls, whose crown was wrestled away by Nicky Henderson at Sandown in the spring, outlined a target of hunting down 3,000 winners, which he is 200 or so away from.

The milestone is unlikely to come this term, but is probably not far off given Nicholls enjoyed his most prolific campaign in 2016-17 with 171 winners.