Title 'surprises' Nicholls Paul Nicholls received his British jump racing trainers' championship trophy on the final day of the jumps season at Sandown Park and admitted he was "surprised" to win back the crown from Nicky Henderson. At the beginning of the season Henderson appeared to have an embarrassment of riches with Simonsig, Sprinter Sacre and Bobs Worth in his ranks but, for one reason or another, those three did not deliver the expected riches, while Nicholls kept him at arm's length even without the likes of Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded to call on. "Nicky had an awesome team of horses last year and unfortunately for him, things didn't always go right (this season). As we've seen with the football, it depends on the players you've got and how they play for you. The team has gone well this year and I am a bit surprised," said the Ditcheat handler. "Ruby (Walsh) wasn't riding for us this year and Dan (Skelton) had moved on. It was a completely new team and a new team of horses. We actually won more prize-money this year than we did last year, so it's been better than we really thought it would be. "The whole team have got an awful lot of pleasure from regaining the championship having lost it. I'm really proud of the whole team, who've worked so hard at home. They have been fantastic and winning the title for them means probably as much to me. "It was a surprising season, really. There is always room for improvement and we will have to tighten up a few things - nothing specific - we just want to evolve the operation, as every yard does. "We have a great team of novices to look forward to and a good team of young horses - we've been buying a few we like and these are exciting times. There are plenty of exciting times to look forward to as well. "We won several Grade Ones, won plenty of other big races and things went better than expected. But aside from the big days, one of the greatest pleasures for me was seeing how well Dan (Skelton) and Harry (Fry) - who left us a couple of seasons ago - have done. Hopefully they have been given the right training."
