English/Ire
Nicholls expects to supplement Tutti Quanti for Champion Hurdle bid
Paul Nicholls believes that Tutti Quanti will line up in next month's Champion Hurdle after the progressive six-year-old stretched his legs in a routine gallop at Kempton on Tuesday.
Sixth in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, Paul Nicholls' French-bred hurdler has taken his form to a new level in recent starts, landing The Gerry Feilden in fine style at Newbury before putting up a remarkable weight carrying performance back at the same venue in the valuable and often informative William Hill Hurdle last time.
Connections now have the option of adding their improving son of Chanducoq to the Champion Hurdle line-up for a fee of £18,000, with Nicholls, who was speaking after watching four of his potential Festival contenders gallop at Kempton, leaning towards a crack at the Tuesday feature.
"I think we will supplement for the Champion Hurdle," he said. "I've got to talk to Colom (Donlan, owner) on that. We've got the luxury that we can wait until six days beforehand and see what's happening.
"I'd say the first day, the ground's never going to be any slower than faster than good to soft. If it's like that, I'd say we've got nothing to lose. He's definitely improving rapidly.
"He's now rated 151 and if it is an open race, why not give it a go? It'd be his last run before he goes chasing, so I'm not convinced about carrying 12 stone again in the County Hurdle or something like that. And I can just see he's a massive improver, so we'll probably give it a go – but that's not set in stone yet. But I suspect we will.
"He definitely improved from when he won the Gerry Fielden to the next day. I didn't expect him to win like that the other day at Newbury and he's improved since then. And this morning's gallop – he'd never worked like that last year. He was backward and mentally backward, but he's just the finished article now.
"Sometimes we get young horses like that to improve, and you don't know where their ceiling could be, so, it wouldn't surprise me if he ran very well."
Tutti Quanti could line up against former Champion Hurdle hero Constitution Hill should he be supplemented, with Henderson still waiting to make a call on the participation of his star following a recent romp on the Flat at Southwell.
Whilst looking forward to seeing what his own horse can potentially achieve in a Champion Hurdle, Nicholls, a fourteen-time champion trainer, does not envy the decision his main competitor now faces.
He added: Nicky knows more about training Champion Hurdle winners than any of us, but I think Friday probably muddied the waters more than anything and (they) might have a bigger headache now because he was so impressive the other day.
"Everyone in racing has to respect Nicky whatever decision he makes.
"If it was me, I think I would be so excited about the way he won the other day I would be looking forward to running him on the Flat. He's won a Champion Hurdle and then three disasters and you wouldn't want another, but it's a difficult one for them.
"Everyone has opinions and Nicky is having everyone giving them to him, but he looked so good the other night, what a fun horse you would have for the Flat.
"He's a public horse as much as anything and it's a no-win situation. If he wins, brilliant, but if he falls or something like that then it's a disaster, so I don't envy them."
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