Legendary National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls has admitted he is in no rush to decide on where Kauto Star will make his eagerly-awaited seasonal debut.
There had been talk of the 2007 and 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner debuting in either the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal or Haydock's Betfair Chase two weeks later.
Clive Smith’s nine-year-old actually took in both of the races last year but that is deemed too much action too early on for the superstar and the dual Gold Cup winner will only be asked to tackle one of the races. He will then bid to record a remarkable fourth consecutive victory in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.
Nicholls said: "He is in both races and we haven't made a decision either way.
"Clive is keen to go to Haydock, but he is a good guy and would be happy to go to Down Royal if that's what I wanted.
"Now the rain has arrived we can start thinking about it a bit more, but there is no rush to make a decision."
For all the action in the build-up to Cheltenham and to find out where the value is in this year’s antepost market, punters should stick with CheltenhamPro.