THE sun isn’t even up yet and Paul Nicholls’ mind is already in overdrive.
It’s 7.25am on Tuesday morning and the eight horses due to school ahead of big targets today circle around him outside the old champions row at Ditcheat.
In this little corner of the yard, Kauto Star, Denman and Big Buck’s were once neighbours during that incredible golden age of Nicholls dominance.
There aren’t any horses close to that calibre here these days but still plenty of good ones, with the likes of Ginny’s Destiny and Stage Star among those about to be put through their paces.
We hop into the Ford Ranger pick-up truck, with head lad of 29 years Clifford Baker kindly offering to take a seat in the back, and head through the village, past The Manor pub which is nearing the end of a multi-million pound renovation.
“I can’t wait for them to open again. There are some good drinking pubs around here, but there is nothing like having a local on your doorstep and it’ll look absolutely amazing when it’s finished,” Nicholls says.
By the time we arrive at the gallops, first lot, around 24 horses in all, have arrived and are stretching their legs. He knows every single horse, useful or useless, inside out.
Even though I’m stood here with him, you can imagine him speaking like this to himself.
“Nice mare that one, Beauty In The Park. She’ll go close to winning next time. That’s Jackpot Des Bordes. There is a 0-120 at Sandown in a few weeks I’ve got my eye on.”
His attention to detail undoubtedly stems from his unparalleled competitive streak, one which is probably unmatched elsewhere in the training ranks.
So when things don’t go to plan, it undoubtedly stings. And whenever Nicholls has a quieter season than usual, the scrutiny comes from all angles.
He said: “You see a lot of people talking rubbish online, I just laugh at it, I take no notice.
“They’re usually too gutless to put their real names or photos on there, they’re not man enough to stand up and be counted.
“People were slagging off Caldwell Potter the other day, he didn’t actually run a bad race and we haven’t seen anywhere near the best of him.
“We have had some amazing horses but they don’t grow on trees, finding the next generation isn’t easy but we’ve got some nice young ones coming through.”
Not that he needed to get those competitive juices flowing more than they already are, but the emergence of old assistant Dan Skelton as a major force has definitely spiced things up a bit.
Skelton finished above his old boss in the trainers championship for the first time last season and he is now the latest Nicholls nemesis, after epic rivalries with Martin Pipe and Nicky Henderson over the last few decades.
He said: “Dan was here for nine years, he’s a great mate and I’m proud of what he’s achieved. It’s a numbers game, he has a set-up where he can train more horses than us.
“We enjoy taking each other on and we are going to have to pull it out of the bag and win the Grand National with Kandoo Kid to do him on the line, just like we did with Nicky and Neptune Collonges!
“You’ve got to keep trying and one thing is for sure, I will never give up. I’m not far off 4,000 winners, Pipe is the only one to have done that.
“He had 3,930 winners,” Nicholls is well aware of the exact number, “in Britain, so that’s in our sights. It’s like in football, one team can’t win it every year. It goes in cycles, it’ll come back round.”
Given his relentless pursuit to be the best, it has meant he has had to make plenty of sacrifices along the way.
He continued: “It’s a big commitment in your life doing this. I have a week away every January when we give our horses their jabs and we have some downtime, but that’s about it.
“The girls, Megan and Olive, are doing amazingly and I see them a lot, but when they were growing up you don’t get to see them as much as you’d like.
“Any sportsman at a high level will tell you you have to make sacrifices. It’s not always easy, but you can’t ever stand still. But I thrive off it, I love it.”
Ain’t that the truth.