Death Of Trainer David Nicholls

Former trainer David 'Dandy' Nicholls has died aged 61. His death was announced on Sunday by his son Adrian who said, “He passed away in his sleep at home this morning. He'd been battling a few problems of late. He was a very good jockey an even better trainer and probably an even better dad.” Nicholls enjoyed a highly successful career both as a jockey and subsequently as a trainer. He rode over 400 winners before developing a second career that saw Nicholls train a total of 1,269 winners. It was as a trainer of sprinters where Nicholls excelled and in 2002 he saddled Continent (GB) (Lake Coniston {Ire}) to win both the G1 Darley July Cup and the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye. Regal Parade (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) also supplied Nicholls with a brace of top level victories. He won the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup in 2009 and the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest in 2010, ridden on both occasions by his son Adrian.

Nicholls also landed his local Group 1, the Nunthorpe at York on two occasions. Ya Malak (GB) (Fairy King) dead heated in the race in 1997 when ridden by the trainer's wife Alex Greaves while Nicholls also trained Bahamian Pirate (Housebuster) to land the race as a 9-year-old in 2004. David Nicholls wound down his training operation earlier this year due to financial reasons and his last big winner came in Qatar in February when last Friday's G3 Diomed S. winner Sovereign Debt (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), now in the care of Ruth Carr, won a local Group 2 race.

The racing industry came out in force paying tribute to Nicholls on Sunday. Former champion jockey Richard Hughes tweeted, “Dandy Nicholls RIP. Horse racing has lost a great man and trainer.” Dr Marwan Koukash teamed up with Nicholls for a lot of success over the years and he wrote, “Very sad to hear of the death of Dandy (King of Sprints) Nicholls. RIP mate and many thanks for the wonderful memories.” Nicholls is the second Yorkshire based trainer to pass away recently following the death of Alan Swinbank just over two weeks ago.