Few athletes retire from their profession at the age of 20. However, with an assistant trainer role to take up alongside her father, few would argue Olive Nicholls is not choosing the more ambitious option.
Nicholls rode 25 winners in her amateur riding career across 148 races. The final two arrived on the same day, the first time she had achieved such a double in her career. Both Viroflay and Golden Son scored at Newton Abbot on Wednesday after which Nicholls announced her retirement from riding.
Her father Paul’s yard has gone through a period of turmoil of late. The Ditcheat team again failed to send out a winner at this year’s Cheltenham Festival. Then, the news broke that retained rider Harry Cobden was to leave his post. He has recently taken up the mantle as JP McManus’ number one jockey full time. He rode his first race in the colours as the official McManus jockey on Monday.
Nicholls appears set to give Sam Twiston-Davies the majority of the yard’s rides for the season ahead. Twiston-Davies was displaced as the Ditcheat number one by Cobden and also rides for his father Nigel.
With the Nicholls base in a transition period, fresher eyes and angles may be required. It could be an ideal time for Olive to make a name for herself.
“I’ve always loved the training side of it” – Olive Nicholls
Moving into her role as one of two assistants at her dad’s yard, Nicholls confessed she has often thought about a role within the training team. She now gets the opportunity alongside existing assistant George Edgedale.
“I’ve always loved the training side of it and I moved down to dad’s last summer,” she said on Thursday. “Before that I trained pointers for a couple of years and really enjoyed doing that. Riding’s been my fun but this season I’ve been thinking about stopping.
“I’ve had a couple of falls and have come away a bit sore, and ultimately I’ve been doing it for fun. There was always going to be a time it felt right to move up in the yard and to give it up.
“I’ve had an amazing season and yesterday I’d say I felt very content walking away; it felt like the right time. It was my first double and it was never going to get better than that, especially as Viroflay was involved and he’s been an amazing horse for me.”
Aspirations would not get higher than emulating a former Nicholls assistant in Dan Skelton. He became champion trainer for the first time last term.