SaphirDu Rheu is expected to be joined in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle byAuxPtit Soins, the winner of last season's Coral Hurdle on his debut and, to date, sole start for the stable but it has not been plain sailing with the six-year-old."He's a very talented horse," Nicholls told At The Races.
"He's just turned the corner with his problems and he's been back with us a fortnight. He's started two canters every day up the hill. The problem is that there are only eight weeks to go before the World Hurdle and it's going to be a rush to get him there.
"We can give him a couple of racecourse gallops. He's a very clean-winded horse and hopefully we can get him right for it, but there are a couple of opportunities after Cheltenham and I have said to John [Hales] we could look at the French Champion Hurdle at Auteuil. He won't be far off being right for Cheltenham but I've only got eight weeks and that isn't ideal.
"You have to crack on. It's not like he is just coming out of a field. He's had some exercise on a water treadmill with Lisa Hales - actually, I think it was Clare Dyson who did that - so we're not starting with him from out of a field, but he has had two lots of surgery in the autumn - one on the tooth and one on his sinuses - which hasn't helped. We are up against a bit, but if any horse could do it he probably could."
