How Paul Nicholls landed a £39,000 Cheltenham Festival gamble - plus he reveals his only ante-post bet for 2025

Paul Nicholls reflected on a £39,000 winning double on his horses at the Cheltenham Festival as he shared his only ante-post bet for the meeting this year.

Nicholls' double included a 25-1 ante-post touch on Big Buck's in the 2009 Stayers' Hurdle, for which he was sent off at 6-1 on the day, before stable legend Kauto Star reclaimed the Cheltenham Gold Cup a day later against Denman.

The one horse the Ditcheat trainer has backed this season is Shearer in the St James's Place-sponsored Hunters' Chase at odds of 25-1. There is added pressure as the nine-year-old will be ridden by his daughter Olive.

Nicholls, speaking at a Jockey Club media day, said: "I’ve had one bet this year. I had a little each-way bet on Shearer at 25-1 just because I’ve been looking at that race for a long time. I backed him quite a while back and he’s 14-1 now. I knew what I was doing with that but I don’t think there’s anything else.

"Shearer's not a 139-rated horse now, he’d be a mid-130s horse, but that’s quite like Pacha Du Polder [winner of the race in 2017 and 2018]. I think he’d give Olive a great ride. The trip is no problem, I think he’s probably got enough class but he just needs it all to go right in a race like that."

Shearer (right): Paul Nicholls' ante-post fancyCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Nicholls won the first of six leading trainer awards at Cheltenham in 1999 and also revealed three winners led to another good payday in his early career. 

He added: "I used to like picking out Big Buck's when he was like 25-1 for the World Hurdle and things like that. The best bet I had was a double on Big Buck's and Kauto Star, I won £39,000. I can't remember but I think I bought a car or something. Knowing me I probably used it to put a gallop in.

"I also had the first three winners I had at the Cheltenham Festival, Flagship Uberalles [Arkle], Call Equiname [Champion Chase] and See More Business in the Gold Cup. I’d been backing them in trebles for a week all before it. I’m not really a gambler, I was just being more optimistic."

Although Shearer's odds are now no bigger than 16-1, the 14-time British champion jumps trainer nominated Mares' Novices' Hurdle pair Jubilee Alpha and Just A Rose as his best chance of a winner next month.

Nicholls said: "I think the two mares have got really good chances, they’re hard to split. No Drama This End could have a big chance too in the Champion Bumper, but it's a hard race to win. 

"It’s hard to get winners at Cheltenham, but we’ve got plenty there with a squeak. We’ll save a lot for Aintree as it just suits our horses at the moment."

4.40 Cheltenham, March 14, St James's Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Chase Paddy Power: 3 Its On The Line, 4 Angels Dawn, 11-2 Willitgoahead, 8 Sine Nomine, Winged Leader, 12 Con's Roc, Famous Clermont, 14 bar

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