Paul Nicholls’ gallops ‘literally underwater’ after ‘biblical’ rain causes chaos just weeks before Cheltenham Festival
TOP trainer Paul Nicholls’ gallops have been left ‘literally underwater’ after ‘biblical’ rain caused chaos at his Ditcheat yard.
His loop and flat gallops have suffered ‘huge damage’ just weeks before Cheltenham Festival.
Nicholls – who recently told Sun Racing about his plans for a monster end to the season – has not been able to assess the full scale of it yet owing to the hazardous conditions.
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But he said further forecast rain is giving him a huge headache, just as the season really hots up.
Fortunately his famous hill gallop is OK to use but the rest of his base is totally out of action.
The Betfair ambassador, speaking on his Ditcheat Diaries series, said: “Honestly, it was biblical rain yesterday and I’ve never in 33 years of being here seen weather like it, the amount of rain.
“Our hill gallop is fine but our loops and flat gallop are literally underwater.
“You’ve never seen water like it.
“But we haven’t been able to assess the full damage yet because we can’t get on there.
“But I’ve never had water on the gallops, let alone what we saw yesterday, we can’t believe it.
“The damage water does is absolutely incredible.
“We’ve been able to school horses as normal on the hill gallop but it’s not good elsewhere.
“This is a huge amount of damage we’ll have to put right during the week.
“It’s not ideal and there’s a lot more rain forecast.”
The 14-time champion trainer suffered a similarly nightmarish situation 12 months ago when horses ‘floating’ in their stables had to be evacuated.
That was caused by Storm Henk, but the latest carnage is a consequence of Storm Eowyn’s trail of destruction over Britain and Ireland.
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