Paul Nicholls cancels 2012 Cheltenham media day

Paul Nicholls has recently cancelled his scheduled media day for the 2012 Cheltenham Festival. Each year, Nicholls invites press to his stables and answers questions regarding the March event and his runners. This allows the trainer to get all press coverage and interviews out of the way weeks before Cheltenham Festival so that he can then concentrate on his horses. However, Nicholls has cancelled the event this year due to an outbreak of illness at his stables.

Nicholls announced that a number of his horses are suffering from a coughing bug. At first, the trainer did not give any information regarding which were ill. However, he has now revealed a selection of the horses affected. The 2012 Cheltenham Festival competitor Zarkandar is said to have been struck with the illness. While the horse is currently suffering from a cough, he is on antibiotics and should be back on track for the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle.

Over the past weeks, Paul Nicholls’ horses have not been performing to the best of their ability, with only one win during February. Despite sending out 27 horses over the month, Zarkandar was the only one that managed to place first in his Betfair Hurdle at Newbury. Nicholls has suggested that the illness at his stable could be the cause of this dip in performance: “Coughs come and go at yards and there is always the odd horse with one but, in the past few days, we have started noticing more.”

Cheltenham Gold Cup predictions for Kauto Star

Paul Nicholls has confirmed that Kauto Star is unaffected by the illness. Many professionals have predicted that the racehorse stands a good chance of beating defending champion Long Run in the 2012 Gold Cup. The horses have the shortest Cheltenham Gold Cup odds, and what with Long Run winning the Betfair Denman Chase at Newbury, it looks set to be a two horse race.

As there are still a few weeks till Cheltenham Festival, Nicholls will surely be pulling out all precautionary measures to prevent Kauto Star from catching the bug. This could include isolating certain horses as well as steam-cleaning the stables and horse boxes. Keeping the press at bay will have also helped to prevent the spread of infection around the stables.

Check out some of the defining moments that Kauto Star has already enjoyed during his lengthy career: