Nicholls revels in Kauto Star's restoration

That cocksure comeback from Kauto Star at Down Royal on Saturday has certainly put a spring in his trainer's step. What, for instance, did Paul Nicholls make of Tidal Bay's reappearance at Carlisle the next day? Well, Howard Johnson would be pleased. And the horse could only beat what was put in front of him. But Tidal Bay still had "a mountain to climb", Nicholls asserts, if he was going to concern Kauto Star, or indeed Master Minded.

The champion trainer was in London yesterday at a lunch to mark the return of jumping to Sandown on Saturday, and was still euphoric over the rejuvenation of his 2007 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner. There seems little question where his first loyalties lie, even though the horse who relieved Kauto Star of the Gold Cup in March is stabled in the very next stall back at Ditcheat.

"When Kauto Star got beat in the Gold Cup, I was genuinely gutted," Nicholls admitted. "Watching the replay the next morning, I was almost in tears. It was great that Denman won. But to me, there'll never be another Kauto Star. He was beaten by a better horse on the day. That might change this time. Nobody knows. Whatever he does in the future, he can never be replaced. He means so much to the whole team."

It was a telling insight into his affection for a horse who has sometimes made him seem too sensitive. Following consecutive defeats last spring, Nicholls had gone to Ulster rigid with tension. "I was more nervous for the horse than anything," he said. "He got a bit of stick last season, but he's one of the best there's been for a few years, if not the best. Not many horses would have given everything in the Gold Cup, the way he did, and then turned out three weeks later to be beaten a short-head at Aintree, and still come back with the enthusiasm he showed on Saturday. For him to go round there with his ears pricked, I think reflects great credit on the horse."

Kauto Star heads next to the Betfair Chase at Haydock, again over three miles, but Nicholls senses that he has retrieved enough brio to remain just as effective over two. Indeed, but for the fact that the freakish Master Minded is also owned by Clive Smith, he reckons Kauto Star could legitimately go for the Seasons Holidays Tingle Creek Chase on 6 December – the first big prize of Sandown's winter, and one he won two years ago.

"Last year, for whatever reason – I don't know, and Ruby Walsh doesn't know – he was lethargic, he looked like a [pure] three-mile chaser, a horse that wanted a trip," Nicholls said. "Now, if Master Minded wasn't there, I've no doubt he would be the one to beat in the Tingle Creek."

As it is, that race is the comeback target for Master Minded. "I think he has improved again, which is hard to believe," Nicholls said. "Even when he won that handicap at Sandown in February, and I asked Ruby whether I should enter him for the Queen Mother Champion Chase, he said: 'No, he needs two and a half miles and a right-handed track.'"

Fortunately, Nicholls chose to ignore that advice. No modern winner of the Champion Chase has had the race sewn up quite as far out as Master Minded, whose emergence so relegated Twist Magic, the stable's Tingle Creek winner last year.

Twist Magic did bounce back at Punchestown when wearing a tongue tie, which he again sports at Exeter today. By running Natal as well, Nicholls has two of only four horses running off their true rating in the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup. Such is his hegemony nowadays that he can do this even with his second tier of horses. "Twist Magic goes very well fresh, and is in really good order," Nicholls said. "But Natal finished second at Punchestown, off levels, and has a huge weight advantage this time. Natal might need the run more, but there will not be a lot between them."

Alan King, his friend and rival, was also present yesterday. His own stable star's comeback did not go quite to script at Kempton last month, Katchit being turned over by Snap Tie on his first start since the Champion Hurdle. But he has so thrived since that King has revised his original intention to wait for a race at Cheltenham next month, and now intends to send him to Wincanton on Saturday.

In contrast to Nicholls, King has had to develop a practised line in self-deprecation. "Everyone seems to think Katchit won't win another Champion Hurdle, so we might as well win some prize-money on the way," he said.

He also reproached himself for exposing My Way De Solzen to Kauto Star on his first start last season. He was not the same horse thereafter, and the trainer's hopes for a fresh start over shorter distances have been frustrated by a minor setback, so he will now resume in the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon.