- Stay Away Fay won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at last season’s Festival
- The seven-year-old novice chaser has also won both his steeplechase starts
- He is the shortest-priced British hope for Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at 4-1
Paul Nicholls will test exciting novice chaser Stay Away Fay against more experienced rivals in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham Trials day on Saturday.
The seven-year-old, who won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at last season’s Festival, has won both his steeplechase starts and is the shortest-priced British hope for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at 4-1.
Opponents on Saturday — in what looks like being one of the most informative events of Cheltenham’s Trials — are headed by Venetia Williams’ Betfair Chase winner Royale Pagaille. They also include Lucinda Russell’s 2023 Cotswold Chase winner Ahoy Senor, Jamie Snowden’s Coral Gold Cup winner Datsalrightgino and Patrick Neville’s 2023 Brown Advisory winner, The Real Whacker.
Stay Away Fay won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at last season’s Cheltenham Festival
Nicholls, speaking at Newbury on Tuesday, said: ‘Win, lose or draw he will get some experience of the track and the fences. He puts everything into it and takes a little bit of time to get over his races. If he ran in the Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase (at Ascot on February 17) and he had a hard race, that is getting close enough to the Festival.
‘After Saturday we will have a nice bit of time to get him right and it is not beyond the realms of possibility he will run really well.’
