Olive Nicholls raises ‘exciting’ Kempton goal for Viroflay

Olive Nicholls has “exciting plans” for Kempton specialist Viroflay.

Winner two of his four starts at the Sunbury venue, Viroflay struck there over the Christmas period to set up a possible shot at the £150,000 Ladbrokes Trophy on February 21 before thoughts may turn to Aintree’s Grand National fences.

Nicholls, whose father Paul trains the gelding, said: “Viroflay will stay under rules and we have exciting plans for him, maybe something like the race at Kempton could be the race for him as he loves it there.

“Even when he was hunter chasing I thought Aintree would suit him, so maybe after that he could run in a Topham or something. There’s lots of big plans.”

Nicholls finished fifth aboard Shearer at the Cheltenham Festival 12 months ago and although yet to show his hand this season, he could again be targeted at March’s championship hunter chase alongside recent Warwick winner Golden Son.

She continued: “We’ve got Shearer as well who loved it last year and it was a big ask for him as we had to qualify him quickly coming back from an injury. He held his own and I think he could be a contender again this year.”

On Golden Son, Nicholls added: “I thought he would need it at Warwick and he had a lot of weight to carry on testing enough ground for him, as he doesn’t really want it soft.

“It was a great place to start and hopefully he can build on it. He jumped superbly and travelled really well and all he did was gallop.

“He’s more of a Cheltenham horse than Aintree as all he does is gallop and he might not be brave enough for the Aintree fences, but we will see.”