Nicholls hoping for dry spell
The champion trainer will give the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite his prep race for the Festival in the three-mile test, although conditions at the Berkshire track are currently heavy.
Nicholls also has the option of dropping the seven-year-old back to the minimum trip for the totepool Game Spirit Chase, but is keen to keep the King George VI winner over a longer distance.
He said: “Kauto Star is in good order but I would want the ground to dry out and ideally won’t want it like this.
“I could run him in the Game Spirit – which Sporazene and Armaturk will run in – if it is heavy but I really want to run him over three miles and that is the plan at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Thierry Doumen expects Foreman’s next start to be in the totepool Game Spirit Chase at Newbury next month.
The French trainer wants to get another run into his horse before the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, for which he is a general 10-1 shot.
Foreman could again run into Voy Por Ustedes in the February 10 event, with the pair one-all in novice races last season before Alan King’s Voy Por Ustedes came out on top in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton last month.
Doumen has not given up hope yet and said: “Foreman is following his preparation for Cheltenham well.
“Realistically, he was misled by a loose horse at Kempton and Tony had to keep him off the rails after the last.
“He had a big blow but he could easily have been second rather than a miserable third.”
Doumen ruled Foreman out of this weekend’s Victor Chandler Chase because of his big weight in a handicap.
