Nicholls may turn to Twiston-Davies for Grade One rides next season

Sam Twiston-Davies could once again team up with Paul Nicholls for some big rides next season, after the 14-time champion trainer outlined his thoughts on jockey arrangements in the wake of Harry Cobden’s new job with JP McManus.

Twiston-Davies was stable jockey at Ditcheat for four years between 2014 and 2018, replacing Daryl Jacob, after which he decided to go freelance.

Cobden has had the pick of the majority of the Nicholls-trained runners in recent years, but earlier this week was announced as the new retained rider for legendary owner McManus in both Britain and Ireland from May, leaving Nicholls with a potential vacancy.

The Betfair ambassador 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 one races you need a Grade One 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.”

He added: “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.”

Twiston-Davies’ first Grade One winner for Nicholls was Dodging Bullets in the 2014 Tingle Creek at Sandown, a horse he went on to steer to victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival the following spring.

The duo have enjoyed plenty of major successes both during and since their official stint together, with their notable victories including the Melling Chase with Politologue and the King George VI Chase and Punchestown Gold Cup with Clan Des Obeaux.

Speaking to the Press Association at Windsor, Twiston-Davies said: “I’m very lucky with who I ride for at the minute, but what is nice is when you look at the Grade One picture, it’s nice to be throwing your hat back in the ring.

“When Harry was a bit sore at Kempton I rode one for Paul and it was around when all the news was starting to filter out. Paul said once he was back from holiday we would have a chat and at the end of the day we’re in two different positions now compared to how we were when I was stable jockey.

“Back then I needed everything to go well and now I know that if things don’t go so well you can walk away from a situation and both be OK. Paul is never not going to be a fantastic trainer and hopefully I’m not going to turn into a rubbish jockey overnight. Win, lose, or draw – whatever happens – we both want to win and hopefully together that is a dangerous combination.

“Paul knows my CV well, as he practically created it. You know with Paul he will always have nice horses and you know he will always be on the hunt for a shed-load more and he says he has plenty coming through so the opportunity to be involved with them is exciting.”

“I get on well with Paul, we never fell out and it will be lovely to go back down there and see everyone again. The last time I went down there was to school Clan Des Obeaux before the King George – I’ll have to download his postcode again!

“It’s another string to my bow and with Willy (Twiston-Davies) involved at home (joint-trainer with father Nigel Twiston-Davies) one thing I do want to carry on doing is help him grow our place as well, but at the same time it doesn’t stop me going off and doing my own thing and having a bit of fun.”