Paul Nicholls is looking to renew his association with former stable jockey Sam Twiston-Davies in future.
It was announced this week that Nicholls' main man Harry Cobden would become the number one rider for JP McManus from the start of next season in May, and while Nicholls already has plenty of promising young riding talent to turn to at Ditcheat, he could look to link up with Twiston-Davies again when big-race experience is required.
Twiston-Davies was stable jockey for the Nicholls outfit for four years (2014 to 2018), when replacing Daryl Jacob in the role, although he subsequently opted to go freelance and primarily now rides for father and brother training team, Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies.
Nicholls and Sam Twiston-Davies have enjoyed plenty of major success together in the past including with Clan Des Obeaux in the 2019 edition of the King George VI Chase at Kempton.
Speaking in his Betfair blog, the 14-time champion trainer said: "The news broke this week that Harry Cobden will be riding JP McManus' horses from May, but first and foremost Harry was never retained by us, it's always been a gentleman's agreement which I've had with all the jockeys over the years. He's been with us since he was 16 and I don't know how many people know this but his mother was a Barber (Paul Barber was the owner of Denman), so in effect he was part of the Barber team so it was always his destiny to ride for us and he's had 10 great years.
"When an offer comes along like this it's too good to refuse. I've known about it for about a month and Harry and I have had several conversations, good conversations, and ultimately, I couldn't stand in his way, it's a fantastic job and worth a lot of money.
"He will still come and ride out for us, he'll still ride for us when he can, but obviously he won't be available as much, so I'll have to think of a few different things for next season.
"I love giving the youngsters opportunities, which I have done over the years, and I've got some good young jockeys in the team, like Freddie Keighley, Freddie Gingell, Jay Tidball, but sometimes in those big Grade 1 races you need a Grade 1 jockey until those guys are ready. We have Lorcan Williams with us as well, so he'll ride plenty.
"I've been in a conversation with Sam Twiston-Davies and I'll have a meet up with him one day so it's possible that he could ride some for us also, especially on those big days. But we're not going to do anything in a hurry, we don't need to, Harry's going to ride for us for the rest of the season, I've got plenty of jockeys. I'll meet up with the owners, have a discussion and see how everyone feels, so we're under no pressure to do anything quickly.
"I would just like to wish Harry all the best, as would all the team. He's not going to disappear from us, he'll ride many more winners for us in the future, but we all wish him well in his new job."
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