Flagship Uberalles boosted his already strong claims for the Queen Mother Champion Chase with a top-class performance in defeat in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot.
Last season's Arkle Trophy winner failed by only a neck to give 24lb to the well-handicapped Nordance Prince, who was landing his third big prize of the winter.
In as thrilling finish the six-year-old top-weight had to settle for second best but a smoother jump at the final fence would have brought the pair even closer.
Bookmaker opinion is that Flagship Uberalles will gain his revenge when they meet at level weights at Cheltenham in March as he is Ladbrokes' 7-4 favourite with his Ascot conqueror 6-1 third favourite.
Nicholls has already planned Flagship Uberalles' next outing.
"He will go for either the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury or the Emblem Chase at Kempton but I wouldn't run him if the ground was testing," said the Shepton Mallet trainer.
"I always thought we'd struggle to beat Nordance Prince at the weights. I thought if he got beat it would be in a handicap and this race.
"He's still improving and if he'd winged the last things might have been different but the track at Cheltenham will suit him better.
"Today's winner would struggle to beat mine in the Champion Chase _ but they all would.
"I'm very, very pleased, he's run a cracking race and I'm delighted."
The magnitude of Flagship Uberalles' performance had winning jockey Tony McCoy enthusing: "He's the one to beat in the Queen Mother Champion Chase by the looks of things."
McCoy completed a 12-1 plus treble with two victories for Martin Pipe on Cotteir Chief and Rainbow Frontier.
Pipe also notched a Warwick double through Manx Magic and Royal Predica.
The feature Tote Scoop6 Warwick National was won by 20-1 outsider Choisty, who was giving Swindon trainer Ted Haynes his biggest success.
Haynes, who held a permit for more than 30 years and is now in his second season with a full licence, said: "I thought the horse was marvellously well as I ride him a lot myself at home but I couldn't be sure that he was quite spot on for his first run back over this distance.
"He's run in the last two Martell Grand Nationals and while the race had been taken off his programme I think it might be back on the agenda now."
Donnybrook provided trainer Bob Woodhouse with the biggest success of his career after escaping the mayhem in an equine horror-show at Newcastle.
Approaching the end of a race packed with incident only two of the seven runners were left standing in the #25,000 Castle Eden Brewery Dipper Novices' Chase in which the highly-regarded Rio's King was was out down after a fall.
But the drama continued as the leader Robbo tried to refuse and at the final fence and then shortly after getting over the obstacle dislodged his jockey Alan Dempsey.
Donnybrook (20-1), a couple of lengths in arrears at the time, was badly hampered by Robbo but stayed on his feet to win the race.
In the meantime, Dempsey managed to climb back aboard Robbo, trained by Mary Reveley, and his mount completed the course to take second.
Reveley and Dempsey had earlier been successful with Supreme Fortune. He overcame steering problems to topple the odds-on Clifton Fox in the Libby Soley Nimmo's XXXX Novices' Hurdle.
And they rounded off an eventful day in good style when Marmaduke Jinks justified favouritism in the bumper.
Tommy Carberry showed that he intends to bring Bobbyjo along quietly with a repeat win in the Martell Grand National the ultimate objective when the horse showed up for a long way before finishing unplaced in a handicap hurdle at Fairyhouse yesterday.
