Jilly Cooper enlisted the help of Paul Nicholls for her book Jump! and it's not hard to see why: the thrice-married horse trainer's love life is more colorful than that of any of the “bonkbuster” author's characters.
I hear Nicholls, 61, has split with Poppy Hemmings, the girlfriend 30 years his junior.
And he is now said to be dating event rider Nana Dalton, 40, who has been spotted with him at several race meetings in recent months.
“It's very bitter,” claims one of Poppy's friends.
Nicholls is the leading National Hunt trainer of his generation with more than 2,000 victories, including the 2012 Grand National and four Cheltenham Gold Cups.
Jilly Cooper enlisted the help of Paul Nicholls for her book Jump! and it's not hard to see why: the thrice-married horse trainer's love life is more colorful than that of any of the 'bonkbuster' author's characters
I hear Nicholls, 61, has split with Poppy Hemmings, girlfriend 30 years his junior
One of his friends says: 'A leopard never changes its spot. Since he trains 200 horses, I don't know how he has the time for that.'
In March last year I revealed he was dating Poppy, 31, a Somerset-born rider.
Only close friends knew Nicholls, who was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to horse racing, was courting her.
The previous update on his love life was that in 2017 he dated Philippa Holland, a jeweler 18 years his junior.
Nicholls, who has three daughters, divorced his third wife, Georgina, in 2016. He left his second wife Bridget in 2004 and began dating Georgie, whose marriage to jockey and racing expert Luke Harvey broke up after just 16 months. .
Nicholls declined to comment.