Paul Nicholls hits a treble to cap terrific two days at Musselburgh

Paul Nicholls took the honours at Musselburgh's big two-day meeting by taking his tally to five with a 36-1 treble following his double there on Saturday. The Ditcheat handler and jockey Sam Twiston-Davies struck with the terrific trio of Frodon, San Benedeto and El Bandit.The latter is set to head to Cheltenham after the 15-2 shot got up in the shadow of the post to pip Arthurs Secret by a short head in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle."It's the Pertemps Final for El Bandit now. He is a really smart horse. He won a couple of nice races in the autumn and he did that well." said Nicholls' assistant, Harry Derham."He had a couple of battles in the autumn at Cheltenham and Chepstow. He's a young, improving horse and keeps getting better."I've always thought he was a real stayer and he showed that up the straight."It's been a really good day. Paul sent them up here for good ground and we've been well rewarded."Frodon (4-9 favourite) had little difficulty landing the odds in the totepool Scottish Future Champions Novices' Chase.After being edgy at the start, the five-year-old settled in front beautifully and put in a solid clear round as he scored by nine lengths.Twiston-Davies said of Frodon's antics: "He gets like that sometimes. It's been a while since his last run so he was good and fresh."It was as good a ground as he's run on for a long time. He could have done with a bit more cut, but he put up a good performance today and jumped brilliant."San Benedeto (2-1) proved too good for the opposition in the totepool Scottish Champion Handicap Chase.After making some of the early running, San Benedeto lost several lengths with a bad mistake at the sixth fence.However, Twiston-Davies gave his mount time to recover and was well in command in the closing stages as he came home eight lengths clear of Witness In Court.Twiston-Davies said: "We thought he might be better on softer ground, but he's gone round here over a sharp two miles on decent ground and won nicely."We'll probably have a look at the Greatwood at Newbury over two and a half. A fast-run race there might suit him, but I guess that lies in the handicapper's hands."