Noland heading to Scotland

Beaten Arkle favourite Noland could have his final race of the season at Ayr’s Spring meeting.

The Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old could only finish third behind highly-impressive winner Tidal Bay at Cheltenham.

And while Nicholls concedes he has probably run his last race over two miles, he is in no rush to step him up to three just yet.

“I think Noland ran OK, I think he just wants a bit further,” said Nicholls.

“Funnily enough I was talking to Phil Smith (handicapper) afterwards and he said his highest rating over hurdles was 143 and that was the mark he ran to in the Arkle, which is interesting.

“He just wants three miles, it’s as simple as that.

“We’ll probably not go to Aintree with him, I think I’ll wait until next year before we go three miles with him.

“There is a two-and-a-half-mile novice chase at Ayr (Future Champions Chase) and we’ll probably go there with him.”

Nicholls had no excuse for Twist Magic, who failed to land a blow behind stablemate Master Minded in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

“Twist Magic did run disappointingly. We’ve had a look at him this morning and can find nothing wrong with him,” he told At The Races.

“Whether the ground was a bit tacky I don’t know but he was disappointing, for whatever reason.”