Paul Nicholls issues Cliffs Of Dover Festival warning

Paul Nicholls has warned he faces a race against time to get Cliffs Of Dover ready for a tilt at the JCB Triumph Hurdle at next month's Cheltenham Festival.The four-year-old has won six times already this season, most recently lifting a Grade Two event at Doncaster in December.However, Nicholls reports the Canford Cliffs gelding to have suffered a knock in training and admits he could be facing an uphill battle to get to the Festival.Nicholls said: "He knocked himself the other day. I schooled him just before he was going to go to Musselburgh."It might be a race against time to get him there. If he doesn't come right, he will have to go to Aintree."He is a decent horse and has won six. We've placed him quite well, but he is a good horse."If we can't quite get him back this season for whatever reason, he will be back next season and he really wants looking after."Cliffs Of Dover is around 16-1 for the Triumph Hurdle.