Kauto Star trainer Paul Nicholls has described rumours of retiring the two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner as "very premature".

Owner Clive Smith had suggested that the 12-year-old wouldn't race again after he was pulled up at the festival last week.

However, Nicholls is confident of the horse's fitness and said of the Gold Cup failure: "We just ran out of time with him. But Kauto is 100%.

"Clive and I haven't even discussed it, and I daresay we won't in any great detail until Kauto comes back in July.

"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. This season told everyone not to be so hasty in writing him off."

Kauto Star firstly won the Gold Cup in 2007 and again in 2009.