Kauto Star poised for Aon assault
Both options remain open but Paul Nicholls admits he would rather see Kauto Star tackle the longer trip on February 10 as he warms up for an assault on the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.
“I want to run him in the Aon over three miles. The ground is drying up and if it was absolutely desperate then we probably wouldn’t run him at all,” he said.
Nicholls was delighted to see Exotic Dancer win the Letheby And Christopher Chase at the weekend after he finished second to Kauto Star in the King George last time – and envisages the pair to be ridden similarly on March 16.
“Obviously the form has taken a boost but the one thing with Exotic Dancer is that he is very effective around Cheltenham,” said Nicholls.
“I expect AP (McCoy) and Ruby (Walsh) will be biding their time but I’ll just leave it up to him (Ruby) as he knows what he’s doing.”
Likely to join Nicholls’ first-string in the Gold Cup is stablemate Neptune Collonges, who was in the process of running a sound race when tipping up at the second last in the Letheby And Christopher Chase on Saturday.
“He’s fine and I’m very pleased with him,” the champion trainer said.
“Although everyone says he goes well on heavy ground, I actually think he’ll be better over fences on better ground as it was at Newcastle (when winning the Rehearsal Chase) – it’ll just help his jumping.
“He’ll now go straight to Cheltenham for the Gold Cup and I hope he’ll run into a place.”
Nicholls says Denman is on target for his intended Cheltenham Festival prep run at Newbury on Saturday week.
The highly-regarded seven-year-old has been absent since maintaining his unbeaten record over larger obstacles at the Berkshire track in November.
Now ready to roll again in the toteplacepot Novices’ Chase, Denman will be stepping up to three miles for the first time since scoring over timber at Bangor a year ago.
Nicholls said: “He’s on target for Newbury and these horses have got to run somewhere.
“It’s silly having all these novice chases for horses that haven’t won more than two races as these better horses still need the experience.
“He’s ready to run and he’s done nothing wrong.”
Nicholls is looking forward to his charge tackling the Royal & SunAlliance Chase on March 14 but feels his charge, as low as 5-2 with some firms, does not represent much value.
“He’s short enough – he has been every time he’s run – but he keeps on winning and three miles will probably suit him better,” said the Ditcheat handler.
Meanwhile, Evan Williams could not be happier with Cheltenham Gold Cup candidate State Of Play, who is likely to head straight to Prestbury Park without another run.
“He’ll have another week or two going quietly with him and then we’ll just start to up his work to build him up for the big day.
“It’s getting quite exciting now and we are always on tenterhooks ahead of the big day at the Cheltenham Festival,” he said.
