Paul Nicholls became emotional after unearthing a young jumper with the potential of the great Denman at Cheltenham on Friday. In recent campaigns the 14-time champion jumps trainer has struggled to find horses capable of reaching the lofty heights of the superstars Kauto Star, Master Minded, Big Buck’s and Denman.

Denman’s accomplishments included victory, over Kauto Star, in the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup and two famous wins in the Hennessy Gold Cup under top weight of 11st 12lb. Nicholls recently had to announce his latest Cheltenham and Grand National Festival winner Caldwell Potter would not race this season due to a training setback.

No Drama This End, a bumper winner who finished ninth in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in March, was a 5-1 chance on his hurdles debut in a Grade 2 race on Friday.

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Given a patient ride by Harry Cobden, he stalked frontrunning Heads Up and pulled clear on the run in for an impressive three lengths success.

Cobden said afterwards: “I must admit I haven’t ridden one like this for a little while in a novice hurdle. He’s a serious horse.”

Nicholls said: “We always thought he was very nice at home. I was worried about the ground today, first time out over hurdles. He did that so well, a real class horse.

“I’ve waited a long time to have a really classy one since Denman and some of those and I think with a little bit of luck he could be one of them.”

He added: “That’s a good performance. He can only improve and I’d say we’ll go to the Challow with him next. What a lovely chaser he’ll make.

“He’s probably our best novice. You can talk as much as you like, they’ve got to do it on the track. It’s brilliant because we are a bit short of some of the top ones this year and we just want horses like that.”