Musselburgh test on the timetable for Minella Study

Adam Nicol has had a rethink and will send Minella Study to Musselburgh for their Cheltenham Festival Trials meeting on January 31.

Winner of a Tipperary maiden hurdle in July, since joining Nicol he has triumphed at Wetherby and most recently at Cheltenham.

Nicol was going to keep his powder dry and head straight to the Triumph Hurdle in March but now feels the six weeks between the Bet365 Scottish Triumph Hurdle and Cheltenham is perfect.

“We’re going to go to Musselburgh at the end of the month and then hopefully on to Cheltenham,” said Nicol.

“It was a long time to wait between Cheltenham and Cheltenham, so we thought he’d be better off running and it’s six weeks to the Festival after it.

“It will be interesting to see who wants to come and take him on with a rating of 138.

“He’s brought us a good bit of publicity. Obviously he was quite impressive at Cheltenham. When we first started, Wise Eagle was our flag bearer but hopefully this lad is another level.

“Surprisingly, we’ve had no offers which I find amazing but I wouldn’t swap him. If he was trained by Willie Mullins or Nicky Henderson he wouldn’t be 20-1.

“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge but hopefully he can go to Musselburgh and be impressive and then on to the Triumph.

“I won’t be going there expecting to win, I will be hopeful not confident, but if he goes down in the same form as he was last time then you’d hope he just has a bit of luck. If he runs to around 140, then he’d be involved you’d think.”