What can be expected from Caldwell Potter and Captain Teague?

Kauto Star made his debut for the yard here in 2004 and Big Buck’s had his first three starts in Britain over the testing Newbury fences. Denman won Friday’s John Francome Novices' Chase as his love affair with the Berkshire venue began in 2006, while five-time G1 winner Clan Des Obeaux - who struck gold 10 years later - also features among the Ditcheat trainer's six previous winners of this particularly informative event.

It must have felt like quite a long wait for Nicholls as there was a seven-year gap before his latest victory in the Grade 2 race which came courtesy of Hermes Allen 12 months ago, and now it's over to Caldwell Potter or Captain Teague to fly the flag.

Obviously both are held in the highest regard, or they simply wouldn’t have been entered, but how do we go about assessing this pair ahead of their chasing debuts – whether that’s here or elsewhere in a week or two’s time?

Let’s kick off with big-money buy Caldwell Potter – €740,000 the price paid by Ferguson, Mason, Hales and Done, out of the Caldwell Construction Ltd dispersal sale, for those who may have forgotten.

A full-brother to the ill-fated Grade 1 novice chase winner Mighty Potter, and a half to several other high-class jumpers including Saturday’s Morgiana Hurdle heroine Brighterdaysahead, Caldwell Potter evidently looks the part on paper - and no doubt in the flesh too.

But his profile during seven appearances for Gordon Elliott is not without blemish. The initial blob came on his very first start when sent off 3/1 favourite but proved unable to fare better than mid-pack in a Punchestown bumper in April 2022.

After that summer off, he set the record straight first time back at the same venue but was then a bit of a let-down again when sixth of nine behind Fascile Mode at Leopardstown over Christmas.

Bumpers weren’t really his thing, in truth, as he wasn’t much better when signing off in that sphere with a third at Naas the February before last, although in fairness to the grey he was evidently getting the hang of things over hurdles when sent jumping as a five-year-old last winter.

His maiden win came at the second time of asking when odds-on favourite at Navan but the key piece of evidence - and with it a large chunk of this horse’s reputation - hinges on his win in Leopardstown's Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle (replay below).

It looked quite a deep race at the time, eventual six and a half-length second Predators Gold had bolted up in a Punchestown maiden and Elliott stablemate (at the time) Down Memory Lane, who finished third, was previously unbeaten and seemingly on the fast-track following his maiden hurdle triumph at Down Royal.

But after a very strong gallop was set, Leopardstown favourite Daddy Long Legs didn’t run his race and was eventually pulled-up, along with Absurde, who was still acclimatising at Closutton at the time and nowhere near the horse he has become today.

Predators Gold did go on to push Dancing City reasonably hard at the DRF but he was then kicked into touch by Ballyburn at both Cheltenham and Punchestown, to the tune of almost 40 lengths-plus combined.

So, there are reasons to issue a note of caution when it comes to Caldwell Potter, who Nicholls revealed had been rather “lit up” during a Monday morning schooling session. “I just want to get another school into Caldwell Potter,” he admitted, which sounds a lot like things might not have gone completely to plan.

Captain Teague is to this point 7lb inferior to Caldwell Potter (according to Timeform) but has looked a potential star ever since his superb effort behind A Dream To Share in the 2023 Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

There were 10 Irish-trained horses in the first 11 that day and Captain Teague stood out a mile from the other hapless Brits in finishing third, just a length and a quarter behind the notable runner-up Fact To File. And while it’s nothing new for the Champion Bumper to work out positively, that year’s race has produced 20 individual subsequent winners who have gone on to record 39 victories between them (and counting).

Captain Teague bolted up in the Persian War on his hurdling debut at Chepstow last October, clocked his best Timeform performance rating when second under a penalty on lively enough ground in a Grade 2 at the November Meeting, before adding his name to those of Cornish Rebel, Denman, Bravemansgame, Stage Star and Hermes Allen as the latest Nicholls-trained winner of the Challow Hurdle.

Every single one of those former Newbury heroes went on to be beaten in Grade 1 company at the Cheltenham Festival the following spring, and Captain Teague followed suit in some style - running completely flat and trailing home 54 lengths adrift of Stellar Story in the Albert Bartlett, despite being relatively strong in the Irish-dominated market at 6/1.

But Nicholls has become quite used to dusting himself down following those four days in March (often deliberately swerving the meeting these days) and while the recent Exeter walkover was something of an embarrassment for the whole sport, a return to Newbury for this horse makes deep sense as he takes to fences for the first time in earnest.

Two and a half miles of the John Francome is likely to prove sharp enough as the year goes on, but in excess of 70mm of rain since Saturday morning has kept conditions suitably testing for Captain Teague and there’s another deluge expected on Wednesday morning too.

He wasn't cheap himself at €70,000 but with all the talk around new stable companion Caldwell Potter, Captain Teague may yet prove to be the latest Ditcheat diamond.

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