Paul Nicholls has decided the Nevada Royale, who has only run once over fences in the country, when falling at Newbury in December, will be kept to hurdles for the remaider of this season and will not contest the Royal & SunAlliance Chase.

Willie Mullins has also sounded a note of caution about his novice chaser J'y Vole, saying: "At the moment I'm not inclined to go to Cheltenham. I'm looking at the Powers Gold Cup, a Grade One two-and-a-half-mile chase at Fairyhouse over Easter. I do not think I want to run her in the SunAlliance and I'll have a close look at the Arkle Trophy maybe. If she's going to go anywhere, that could be it."