Nicholls considering Newbury for Kandoo Kid after ground rules out Kempton

Kandoo Kid could divert to Newbury after Paul Nicholls elected not to run his Randox Grand National hope at Kempton Park on Saturday.

A brilliant winner of the Coral Gold Cup earlier in the season, he is a general 25-1 shot to give the 14-time champion trainer his second victory in the Aintree showpiece and was pencilled in to tune up for National duty in the prestigious Ladbrokes Trophy Handicap Chase.

He was as short as 8-1 with the sponsors after Monday’s confirmations, but with the ground given as good all over at the Sunbury venue and no guarantee the forecast rain will hit, Nicholls made the call to skip the three-mile event with Michael Geoghegan’s unexposed stayer.

The nine-year-old could now return to the scene of his finest hour, with Kandoo Kid set to receive an entry for Newbury’s BetVictor Greatwood Gold Cup on March 1.

However, the Ditcheat handler would also have no concerns about heading straight to Merseyside in early April if conditions at the Berkshire track are not suitable.

“There just wasn’t quite enough rain around for him to run, but he’s absolutely fine,” explained Nicholls.

“I could look at Newbury next weekend or I could go straight to Aintree. I just didn’t want to run him on ground that was too quick at Kempton, so I decided to wait.

“Newbury is only over two and a half miles and it would want to be on the soft side, but he will definitely be entered anyway. If he doesn’t go there I would be happy to go straight to Aintree.”