Who is Megan Nicholls? ITV Racing star's famous dad and ex with Tottenham connections

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Megan Nicholls will once again lend her expertise to ITV Racing at the Cheltenham Festival this week. The 27-year-old is the offspring of one of the most prolific trainers of the modern era, Paul Nicholls.

The excitement from Prestbury Park is set to kick off as bettors gather for the pinnacle of the National Hunt season. Over 200,000 spectators attended the four-day Festival last year, and similar numbers are expected to turn up in 2026.

For those not making the trip to the Cotswolds, ITV will deliver its customary coverage throughout the meeting. And former Flat jockey Nicholls will be one of the broadcaster's standout personalities.

Nicholls hung up her riding boots at the tender age of 25 to concentrate on media and has since become a regular feature on ITV . Here, Mirror Sport delves into her illustrious racing family, as well as her past and present love interests.

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Nicholls' father, Paul, is a legendary figure in the National Hunt arena. He has been crowned Champion Trainer an 14 occasions and operates from Ditcheat in Somerset.

Nicholls Sr has trained more than 3,500 winners and clinched the Cheltenham Gold Cup four times. He has also trained some of the sport's most celebrated horses, including Kauto Star, Denman and Big Buck's.

Nicholls followed in her father's footsteps by becoming a jockey, but she competed on the Flat, notching up 110 victories over the course of her career. Her sister, Olive, is an amateur National Hunt rider .

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In 2022, at the age of 25, Nicholls chose to step away from her riding career to dedicate herself fully to bloodstock and media. She made her ITV Racing debut in 2021 and hasn't looked back since.

Explaining her decision, she previously told the Racing Post: "I felt my riding career had hit a point where I was going back down. Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with natural talent and you can work as hard as you want, but when you have people ahead of you it's hard."

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Since her debut, Nicholls has regularly appeared alongside the likes of Ed Chamberlin, Mick Fitzgerald and AP McCoy for ITV. She also presents on Racing TV and is expanding her remit.

While she left riding behind, Nicholls maintained a high-profile relationship following her retirement. She was once romantically linked with Group 1-winning jockey Kevin Stott.

The couple met while riding out in Dubai and started dating around early 2020. Stott had previously undergone a trial with Premier League club Tottenham but returned to riding after his football dream didn't materialise.

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Nicholls and Stott were together for two years before splitting up. Now, judging by social media posts, she appears to be romantically linked with up-and-coming jockey Tristan Durrell.