Paul Nicholls feels Inch House has an “outside chance” of providing him with a second successive win in the Coral Gold Cup.
The Ditcheat handler landed the Newbury feature with Kandoo Kid 12 months ago and while he stresses his runner this time around is a very different type of horse, he’s still hoping for a bold show.
The eight-year-old won a couple of Newbury handicap chases for previous trainer Jonjo O’Neill in late 2023 but cut little ice in two starts for his new handler last term. However, there was more encouragement from his recent reappearance.
“First of all, he needs two to come out to get in, I think they probably will, and he likes Newbury. He won before there for Jonjo and was never right last year,” Nicholls told Tuesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast.
“He had a bad fall on his last run for Jonjo at Ayr and it took all of last year to get over it, he didn’t operate, didn’t do anything in his runs so we left him off. He came back in and had a lovely prep run at Cheltenham where he was sixth having led for a long way.
“He obviously needed that for his confidence and has done very well since but as I’ve said before, he doesn’t have the class of Kandoo Kid but is a good, solid, horse who has the right weight. It’s a competitive handicap and he’s one of a number who has in my view an outside chance.”
The trainer is also looking forward to Regent's Stroll making his chasing debut in Friday’s Coral John Francome Novices’ Chase at the Berkshire track.
“He’s in good shape and Harry (Cobden) has jumped 12 fences on him this morning and he was very happy with him, he’s jumped nicely,” he added.
“He looks great and we’re looking forward to starting him out over fences albeit it would have been nice to run him in a beginners’ chase somewhere and start out with our sights a little lower.
“However, the ground was against that, so we’ve had to go straight in at the deep end. He likes a big, flat, galloping track and they’re proper fences. If he jumps well that will be a good start to his chasing career.”
Friday’s race is over two-and-a-half miles and Nicholls feels he’s a horse who will get further.
“He’s bred to stay and I’ve no doubt he’ll be going further rather than shorter in the future. It’s the ideal starting point but you wouldn’t be worried about stepping up in trip in time,” he added.
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