Trainer Paul Nicholls has revealed that he may not run Pacha Du Polder at Aintree next month as he is keen to prepare for the Foxhunters’ Chase at next year’s Cheltenham Festival, according to a report on the Daily Mail.
Harriet Tucker rode Pacha Du Polder to victory at The St James Place Foxhunter Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival on Friday and Nicholls already has one eye on the same race next year.
The trainer is hoping to create history as no rose has ever won the race three times.
The horse is owned by Andy Stewart and may not be run again this season as Nicholls aims to look after it as well as possible for the remainder of the year.
Nicholls said:
Subject to Andy agreeing, I probably won’t even run him again this season. I’d like to have just one run as a prep next season before trying to win the Foxhunters a third time.
We can give him a nice summer off and bring him back in the autumn.
With the ground at Aintree being in bad condition after severe weather, Nicholls is not eager to risk his star horse getting injured, which is why he does not want to enter the horse into the competition.
