CHELTENHAM: Salubrious finally gets Nicholls off the mark
Ridden by his nephew Harry Derham, he coasted into the lead rounding the turn for home but began to idle.
Double Ross made a bold bid from the front in an effort to give Nigel Twiston-Davies another winner and despite being passed he rallied again for Adam Wedge before running on empty.
Nagpur flew from the back to grab second off Double Ross some seven lengths behind the 16-1 winner.
Make Your Mark stuck on to claim fourth for Willie Mullins.
The red-hot favourite Gevrey Chambertin (9-4), trained by David Pipe, was in trouble from a long way out and never figured.
Nicholls said: ``It's been a blooming nightmare this week but I'd like to dedicate that one to Dominic Baker (son of Nicholls' head lad Clifford Baker, who died in a car accident recently).
“It’s been an incredibly tough week, but to win for Dominic is brilliant. For Harry to ride it is brilliant.
“He gave it a peach, I told him to go as wide as he could but not to get there too soon but he was probably there 10 minutes too soon!
“Harry rides very well and if he gets some more experience he’ll be great.”
“He had a chance on his At Fishers Cross form but we thought the ground would be too soft and the way this week has gone I thought he’d get caught.”
Derham said: “It’s so competitive here at the Festival, our horses had run well without winning. We thought we’d ride him to come through horses and he made my life very easy because he can be a bit keen.”
