Nicol weighing up Newbury and Newcastle for Minella Study’s return

The November Meeting at Cheltenham - watch every race for FREE on Racing TV!

Start your FREE one-month trial and watch all the build-up, interviews and every race from The November Meeting at Cheltenham this week for FREE!

Adam Nicol expects to have a clearer idea of just how high Minella Study can climb the hurdling ranks after his planned to return to action at either Newbury or Newcastle later this month.

The four-year-old enjoyed an excellent first season over obstacles, winning at Wetherby and Cheltenham before finishing third in the Triumph Hurdle at the Festival in March.

He failed to fire on his final start of the campaign at Aintree, but Nicol is looking forward to his potential reappearance on November 28.

“He’s in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle and the Gerry Feilden at Newbury, I haven’t really decided which way we’ll go yet,” said Nicol.

“I’m hoping the Fighting Fifth will cut up to a small field and it will be considered because the owners are 10 minutes up the road from the track and they are mad keen to run there. But obviously you’ve got to use your head sometimes and the Gerry Feilden could be a better race to go for.

“The good thing is they’re on the same day, so we’re training him for that day. Obviously a lot can happen, but his work has been good, we’re really happy with him and he looks well, so at the moment he’s on track for November 28.”

Minella Study impressed at Cheltenham last season

The Seahouses handler is fully aware Minella Study will need to improve if he is to make his mark at the highest level as he prepares to step out of juvenile company and take on his elders.

He added: “It’s a big ask, isn’t it? With four-year-olds (over hurdles), it tends to be a difficult season for them, but if we can nick a pot somewhere during the season I’ll be happy with that as looking at the size of him, I think we’ll see the best of him at five and six.

“He has a mark of 69 on the Flat, so there could be nice races in him on the Flat next year, but obviously we’ve got to get this season out of the way first.

“We’ve just got to be careful how we run him – I’m not going to run him into the ground. He might end up having only three or four runs this season. The owners are quite keen to go back to the Cheltenham Festival and I’d imagine his first run is going to tell us a lot about where we’re at.

“If he went and won a Gerry Feilden or the Fighting Fifth, you’d have to consider something like the Champion Hurdle, wouldn’t you? But I’m not going to jump the gun, we’ll just see how he gets on between now and January and see where are after that.”