Paul Nicholls: Reflections on a season of ups and downs

Paul's team has had 130 winners this season, with prize money of 2.3m.

With the National Hunt season drawing to a close, Paul takes time to reflect on a campaign that has been challenging for Ditcheat in many respects but has, in fact, been better than many people might have imagined

It did make me smile when someone mentioned to me the other day that we have had a 'disappointing' season. 

Because I don't think that we have had any such thing. In fact, with 130 winners on the board and over 2.3m in prize money, I think we have had a bloody good season.

Considering we have not had the best of luck this season with injuries to some big names - more of that later - to have won races such as the Charlie Hall, the Betfair Chase, the Paddy Power, the Lexus and the Aintree Hurdle is not too bad going.

Of course, I would have loved to have won the trainers' championship again. It was a honour to win it once, let alone seven times. But a trainer's job, first and foremost, is to win races and prize money for his owners and I think we have a done pretty good job on that front this season.

I didn't have the Seaborough horses this season - a lot of big yards have these satellite yards - and the 18 winners that we sent out from there in the last campaign. So 130-odd winners really pleased me, considering we had 138 in 2011-12.

Don't forget that we had three winners from five runners in Ireland, too, to net over 180,000 in prize money. And Tidal Bay provided one of the real highlights of the season when we coaxed him back to form, and probably a career-best, at the age of 12, culminating in a thrilling victory in the Lexus.

We clearly failed to reproduce the success we have had at previous Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals, and Nicky is now in the situation where I was five or so years ago in terms of having a lot of the best talent for the big races, as well as real depth. But racing is like that, it is cyclical. And if I have anything to do with it, the wheel of fortune will rotate back to us.

Luck

It's fair to say that luck is one thing we haven't particularly had a lot of this season.

To lose Big Buck's and Al Ferof, two of the stable stars, on one December morning was a pretty crushing blow at the time, while losing other good horses, including Cristal Bonus, was very sad. Throw in the likes of Silviniaco Conti's fall in the Gold Cup and Tidal Bay's injury before the National and there was a theme of bad luck and what-might-have-been throughout the campaign.

But if we were in any danger of feeling sorry for ourselves, we were soon dragged into the real world with the crushing news of Dominic Baker's death in a car crash. We are one big family here at Ditcheat, and when Clifford lost his son, we all felt it too.

That was loss in the most starkest and darkest sense. It certainly put all the nonsense that surrounded Kauto Star's leaving the stable into perspective, too. 

Just as with Nicky and Sprinter Sacre, Kauto was probably the greatest horse I am likely to ever train and it was very sad to see him go in the manner he did and the resulting publicity. But it was a privilege to have him here for over nine years, and great to see him doing so well in his new career.

Looking ahead

So what does the future hold?

Well, if it is the start of a new era horse-wise - though we are not short of top class talent with Big Buck's, Al Ferof, Silviniaco Conti, Tidal Bay, Zarkandar and the like, as well as a lot of promising young horses  - it certainly is staff-wise. 

We combined an end-of-season staff party with Dan's leaving-do here on Monday night, and I am sure he will go on to prove himself in his own right just as much as Harry did this season. 

If he does fail as a trainer, then he looks to have a good stallion career in front of him at least, as he and Gracie are expecting their first child. Good luck trying to juggle a newborn and a new training career, Dan! 

He was not only one of my two right hand men here along with Clifford, he is also a great friend, too. So he will be a great loss in every respect.

But, as horses move on, so do staff. And I am sure my new assistant Tom Jonason, who has been here for three years and who has been shadowing Dan for the past six months, will step up to the plate. And David Prichard will take over Tom's role as pupil assistant.

The season finishes at Sandown on Saturday - I may not be collecting the trainers' title but Megan is receiving her award as the leading 148cm Pony Race Champion for last season - but the new challenge for us starts the very next day with plenty to run over the summer. They have been waiting nine months for their ground, so it makes sense for them to go out and enjoy it at last.

Let's hope that next season goes more smoothly than this one.  

Whatever fate throws at us, rest assured that we will be as determined and focused as ever. The best always bounce back, as Sir Alex and Man Utd have shown again this season, and I would like to think that myself and Team Ditcheat have that kind of winning mentality and strong work ethic. 

And as Alex has always said to me, you are only as good as your squad. So the pressure is on me to go out and find the next Robin van Persie, surely the signing, and the player, of the season! 

I have already bought what I think will be significant additions to the squad, and I'll name just five here: Vicente, On Blueberry Hill, Black River, Vesperal Dream, and Caesar Milan. And there will be plenty of more coming and goings in the summer.

But win, lose or draw, we will always give of our best. We owe it to the past, and the memory of Dominic, to make the best of whatever the future holds. It will be tough, but life invariably is.