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A dejected Ruby Walsh on Kauto Star last Friday. Tony Marshall/EMPICS Sport

Kauto Star retirement talk 'very premature' - Nicholls

The trainer isn’t writing off his star despite Friday’s poor showing at Cheltenham.

TWO-TIME CHELTENHAM Gold Cup winner Kauto Star is not finished just yet according to trainer Paul Nicholls.

The 12-year-old’s injury-plagued season suffered more disappointment on Friday when jockey Ruby Walsh was forced to pull up during their bid for a third Gold Cup, which Sychronised and AP McCoy eventually won.

Owner Clive Smith hinted at the fact that retirement could be on the horizon for French-bred star afterwards but Nicholls disagrees with that prognosis.

We just ran out of time with him,” Nicholls said in his Betfair column.

“But Kauto is 100pc, and we will canter him away and rough him off for the summer and see where we stand when he comes back in.

“But any talk of retirement is very premature. Clive and I haven’t even discussed it, and I dare say we won’t in any great detail until Kauto comes back in, in July. This season told everyone not to be so hasty in writing him off.”

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