It's disappointing after all the success we have had together
After more than fifteen years, owner Johnny de la Hey has quietly but decisively ended his partnership with Paul Nicholls, withdrawing eleven horses from the Ditcheat yard and sending his prized Grade 1 winner Pic D'Orhy to newly crowned champion trainer Dan Skelton. The move is not merely a transfer of bloodstock — it is a reckoning with momentum, a reminder that in elite sport, reputation is not a fixed inheritance but a living thing, sustained or eroded by the accumulation of small signals over time. For Nicholls, one of jump racing's most decorated figures, the departure joins a growing chorus of exits that asks a question no trophy cabinet can fully answer: where does a dynasty go when the tide begins to turn?
- Johnny de la Hey has pulled all eleven of his horses from Paul Nicholls' yard, ending a partnership built on shared triumphs spanning more than fifteen seasons.
- The departure of Pic D'Orhy — a multiple Grade 1 winner and the living symbol of their collaboration — carries a weight that ordinary reshuffles do not.
- This is not an isolated event: last summer, several other prominent owners quietly moved their strings away from Ditcheat, and the pattern is becoming difficult to ignore.
- Dan Skelton, the newly crowned champion trainer, receives the lion's share of de la Hey's horses, a pointed statement about where ambition is now being placed.
- Nicholls has responded with public grace, but has privately acknowledged asking hard questions about his operation — the yard remains powerful, yet the market is watching and drawing its own conclusions.
Johnny de la Hey has ended a partnership that shaped the better part of two decades, withdrawing all eleven of his horses from Paul Nicholls' Ditcheat yard. Seven will move to Dan Skelton, the newly crowned champion trainer, with the remaining four heading to Jamie Snowden and Chris Gordon.
Since the 2009-10 season, de la Hey had kept the bulk of his string with Nicholls, a 14-time champion whose record in jump racing is among the sport's most decorated. Together they produced genuine landmarks — Cyrname's seventeen-length demolition of the Ascot Chase field in 2019, Diego Du Charmil's Maghull Novices' Chase victory in 2018. But the horse that came to define their later years was Pic D'Orhy, a multiple Grade 1 winner including two Ascot Chases, who now departs for Skelton's yard.
Nicholls responded with measured grace, telling the Sun: "It's disappointing after all the success we have had together. We have a great team here and a lovely team of young horses to look forward to. I wish Johnny all the best." Yet the words land against a difficult backdrop. Last summer, other significant owners — including those who campaigned Old Park Star and Kabral Du Mathan — had already moved their horses elsewhere. The exits are accumulating.
The deeper question is what these departures signal to the wider market — to owners, breeders, and the ecosystem of jump racing that watches such movements and draws its own conclusions. Nicholls has spoken publicly about the emotional toll, acknowledging he has been asking hard questions about his operation. The yard remains formidable, but the loss of a horse of Pic D'Orhy's calibre is the kind of blow that reverberates well beyond the stable door.
Johnny de la Hey has ended a partnership that shaped the better part of two decades. On Tuesday, the prominent owner withdrew all eleven of his horses from Paul Nicholls' Ditcheat yard, a move that sends seven of them to Dan Skelton, the newly crowned champion trainer, while the remaining four are bound for the stables of Jamie Snowden and Chris Gordon.
The split represents far more than a routine reshuffle of bloodstock. Since the 2009-10 season, de la Hey had kept the vast majority of his string with Nicholls, a 14-time champion whose record in jump racing is among the most decorated in the sport. Together they had built something substantial: Cyrname, who demolished the field at Ascot Chase in 2019 by seventeen lengths; Diego Du Charmil, victorious in the Maghull Novices' Chase at the Grand National meeting in 2018. These were not modest achievements. These were the kind of performances that define a yard's reputation.
But the horse that came to embody their partnership in recent years was Pic D'Orhy, a multiple Grade 1 winner who claimed three victories at the highest level under Nicholls' care, including two Ascot Chases. That horse now goes to Skelton, a signal of where de la Hey believes his future lies.
Nicholls, when reached, offered a measured response. "It's disappointing after all the success we have had together," he told the Sun. "We have a great team here and a lovely team of young horses to look forward to. I wish Johnny all the best." The words were gracious, but they came against a backdrop of mounting pressure. This is not an isolated departure. Last summer, other significant owners—Chris Gordon and Su Hall, who campaigned Old Park Star, and Neil and Alfie Smith, who raced Kabral Du Mathan—had already moved their horses elsewhere. The pattern suggests something deeper than a single owner's preference.
For Nicholls, the question now is whether this represents a temporary realignment or a more fundamental shift in his competitive standing. The yard remains formidable, and he has spoken publicly about the emotional toll of these departures, acknowledging that he has found himself asking difficult questions about his operation. Yet the loss of de la Hey's string, anchored by a horse of Pic D'Orhy's caliber, is the kind of blow that reverberates through a training operation. It is not merely about the horses that leave. It is about what their departure signals to the market—to other owners, to breeders, to the broader ecosystem of jump racing that watches these movements closely and draws its own conclusions about which yards are ascending and which are beginning to slip.
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It's disappointing after all the success we have had together. We have a great team here and a lovely team of young horses to look forward to. I wish Johnny all the best.— Paul Nicholls
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does one owner moving eleven horses matter so much? It's not like the yard is closing.
Because it's not really about the numbers. It's about what those horses represent. Pic D'Orhy is a Grade 1 winner. That's the kind of horse that attracts other owners, that builds a yard's reputation. When he leaves, it sends a message.
What message?
That maybe Nicholls isn't the place to be anymore. Other owners see it and start thinking about their own horses. It's a cascade.
But Nicholls has been champion fourteen times. Surely one owner leaving doesn't change that.
No, but it's the third or fourth owner in a year. At some point, the pattern becomes the story. And Skelton is newly crowned champion—he's the momentum play right now.
Did de la Hey say why he was leaving?
Not publicly. That's interesting in itself. Sometimes silence speaks louder than an explanation.
What does Nicholls do now?
He keeps training, he keeps winning with the horses he has left, and he hopes the departures stop. But he's already admitted these moves have made him question himself. That's the real damage.