It has been a testing start to the season for Paul Nicholls.
Caldwell Potter has been ruled out for the campaign, former protégé Dan Skelton is already £500,000 ahead of him in the trainer’s championship (salt rubbed firmly in wound by former Ditcheat resident Kabral Du Mathan bolting up on his first start for Skelton at Haydock on Saturday) and it’s looking like being Nicholls’ worst November winners-wise since before the turn of the century.
It’s at times like this Nicholls will look to his stable stars to pull him out of the mire and while he’s had just two winners in the last two weeks at least one of those was the hugely promising novice hurdler No Drama This End at Cheltenham.
At the start of the season, though, Kalif Du Berlais was the nominated ‘apple of his eye’ and Nicholls couldn’t contain his disappointment when the five-year-old could only manage a 23-length fourth when sent off 13/8 favourite for the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter on November 7.
Talk of the Tingle Creek and Queen Mother Champion Chase were quickly put to one side. Instead of a Grade 1 campaign in the two-mile chases there was a rethink: he needed time to mature – and in the meantime he could step up in trip dropped in grade.
Nicholls pointed to Clan des Obeaux and Frodon who had quieter seasons at the same stage of their development – five turning six - and it is true they went onto greater things once they had cut their teeth in handicap chases.
Frodon won the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham as a four-year-old and did struggle at the start of his five-year-old campaign, before he bolted up just as he turned six at Cheltenham on Trials Day.
Clan des Obeaux also went fencing as a four-year-old and his ‘difficult’ second season chasing saw him take in graduation chases and the December Gold Cup (where he was second off 155) before he developed into a regular runner at the top table.
So you can see why Nicholls is keen to mention Kalif Du Berlais in the same breath as those two and you can see why Kalif Du Berlais appeared at the top of the December Gold Cup entries for Cheltenham on December 13 when they arrived in our inbox on Tuesday afternoon.
One of four nominated for the race from the Nicholls yard, the others being Il Ridoto, Tahmuras and Twinjets, here is the perfect race for Kalif Du Berlais to bounce back in with his trainer going for his sixth win in the contest (Poquelin won it twice, as did Frodon, with the four-year-old Unioniste being his other winner).
Certainly, it’ll be interesting to see him at Cheltenham again. While he missed the Festival in favour of being fresh for Aintree – a decision that was justified when he bolted up in the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase – Kalif Du Berlais does have previous at Prestbury Park.
Indeed, he won on New Year’s Day this year by nearly 10 lengths from Sam Thomas’ Paddy Power Gold Cup runner-up Vincenzo, giving him 12lb, jumping really well on what was just his third go over fences at the time.
It will be fascinating to see what he can do stepped up in trip, his pedigree awash with two-and-a-half milers - including Katgary who Nicholls trained for a couple of his six career victories.
Unsurprisingly the handicapper left him alone on 156 after Exeter. He’ll bid for glory off 1lb higher than Clan des Obeaux did with three fewer chasing starts under his belt.
But one piece of muck thrown at the Paddy Power Gold Cup was that the classy horses on the cusp of Grade 1 class were missing from the November Meeting highlight.
If Kalif Du Berlais turns up at Cheltenham in December that certainly won’t be the case and if he does have pretensions of returning to the top table this season he’ll want to be winning it or at least going close.
The good news is JPR One came out of the Haldon Gold Cup, where he finished half a length ahead of Kalif du Berlais, and improved significantly when a close-up third in handicap company at Ascot on Saturday.
And you can bank on Nicholls landing a haymaker in a big Saturday feature at some stage. Running a class act in a handicap is a tried and trusted way of getting a piece of the limelight – and Nicholls needs as much of that as he can get the way his season has started.
December Gold Cup entries, Cheltenham, Saturday December 13
Kalif du Berlais
Matata
Ga Law
Jagwar
Colonel Harry
Riskintheground
Imperial Saint
Panic Attack
The Kalooki Kid
Il Ridoto
Martator
Twinjets
Vincenzo
Tahmuras
Es Perfecto
Hoe Joly Smoke
Royal Jewel
Hunter Legend
Leader In The Park
Glengouly
Kim Roque
Will The Wise
Moon D'Orange
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