Tartak a King George possible despite poor Peterborough run

Despite having finished a bitterly disappointing 6th of the 8-runner field (beaten 52 lengths) behind Gauvain in the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon last week, it would be unwise to assume just yet that the Tom George-trained Tartak will not be in the starting line-up for the Group 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, writes Elliot Slater.

Tartak, winner of the re-routed 2010 renewal of the Peterborough Chase at Newbury where he put in a sterling effort to get the better of Breedsbreeze by half-a-length, had been expected to put up a good show once again but from an early stage it was clear to the informed eye that the horse was not enjoying his experience of first-time blinkers and that regular pilot Paddy Brennan was busy far too early in the race for the comfort of his supporters. Those looking ahead to the Boxing Day horse racing should bear this in mind.

Rather spitting out the dummy at the 10th fence Tartak soon lost touch and in the end Brennan wisely didn’t persevere with the eight-year-old who is far better than he demonstrated and who is unlikely to be seen in similar headgear ever again. There has to be a slight doubt though whether the winner of seven of his 31 starts still retains all his ability having also run poorly in a France a month earlier when only beating one home at Auteuil, but the very heavy ground there is most likely a legitimate excuse. Anyone following the online horse betting prices needs to remember this.

If he were to return to his very best Tartak would still have a great deal on his plate in taking on the likes of Long Run and Kauto Star, but on his day he is a very useful performer and should he take his chance and get decent underfoot conditions it is possible that the horse quoted at a range of odds varying from 40/1 to 100/1 might run better than a lot of people anticipate.

Kauto Star confirmed for Kempton

Trainer Paul Nicholls has confirmed that Kauto Star (4/1 – King George VI Chase Outright with bet365) will attempt to win a record fifth King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.

The 11-year-old defied his doubters by beating Long Run (11/8) to win the Betfair Chase at Haydock three weeks ago and now looks set to go head to head with the same rival in the festive chase.

Nicholls said: “I’ve had a chat with Clive [owner Clive Smith] and we’re going to run Kauto and Master Minded.”

Irish jockey Ruby Walsh will ride Kauto Star with Daryl Jacob set to take the reins of Master Minded (5/1).

Amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen has avoided a ban that would have stopped him from riding Long Run on the day.

Waley-Cohen took the wrong course in a race at Fakenham on Monday but a 12-day suspension applies only on days of amateurs-only races, so it will not start until 1 January 2012.

Irish challenger and Arkle Trophy winner Noble Prince (20/1) and trainer Henrietta Knight’s Somersby (14/1) are also expected to contend for the prestigious race.

Imperial ruled out of Kauto clash

Imperial Commander has been ruled out of the William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and may not now return until attempting to defend his Gold Cup title at Cheltenham, for which he is the 4/1 favourite with Stan James.

Imperial Commander had appeared on course to renew his rivalry with Kauto Star (10/11 favourite Outright Ante Post for King George VI with Stan James) in the King George VI but suffered a cut to his near-fore on his winning comeback in the Betfair Chase at Haydock last month and has now been ruled out.

“He’s out of the King George. He just has a slight infection in his leg and it means we will not be able to get him absolutely cherry-ripe for Kempton,” said trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.

“It’s nothing serious at all. He will probably go straight to the Gold Cup, but that’s not written in stone.”

Ian Robinson, one of the owners in the Friends in the North partnership, said: “It’s sad but not the end of the world. We have just run out of time and we talked with the trainer and vet this morning and it was decided not to carry on with him for Kempton.”

Long Run is the second favourite at 6/1 in the betting with Stan James for the King George VI Chase, ahead of Forpadydeplasterer at 10/1, Nacarat at 12/1 and Riverside Theatre and Sizing Europe (both 14/1).

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Kauto set to star at Newbury

Paul Nicholls has indicated that Kauto Star could be set to run in the Hennessy Gold Cup (Kauto Star 8/1 in Stan James ante post betting), with connections “strongly considering” an appearance at Newbury.

The 10-year-old will make his seasonal reappearance in Saturday’s meeting at Down Royal, with Nicholls eyeing the big race at Newbury on November 27, if all goes according to plan.

The trainer says Kauto Star’s owner, Clive Smith, is keen on having a crack at the Hennessy and they believe he can recover in time to run in the King George on Boxing Day.

Meanwhile, Nicky Henderson says he can find no explanation for Barbers Shop’s poor display last weekend’s Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

The Queen’s eight-year-old was beaten almost 50 lengths, when finishing seventh of eight behind Nacarat, leaving connections puzzled by his display.

Henderson has all but ruled Barbers Shop (33/1 for King George VI Chase) out of the Hennessy and says he will wait before making firm plans for the gelding.

The trainer told Racing UK: “His jumping went to pieces down the back straight (at Wetherby) and that is not like him. After another couple of pieces of work, the whole thing will slot in.”

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Kauto cracking lay in King George

Although Paul Nicholls‘ Kauto Star is currently priced as low as 2/1 (3 on the exchanges) to retain his King George crown at Kempton on Boxing Day 2010, I believe the horse should be around that price to even turn up at the gig and Betfair layers are advised to take advantage.

The ten-year-old will be bidding to land the three-mile showpiece for the fifth successive year. If he achieves this outstanding feat, he will have won the event more times than the late great Desert Orchid. No other horse has won the King George more.

However, it is surely odds against him being in the line-up at this stage, with a four-month gap between now and Kempton. It is also impossible to gauge whether Kauto is back to anywhere near his best form.

It must also be remembered that his jumping was sloppier than ever before during his last race in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, and the chances are that his best days could be behind him.

So the message is to lay the ageing Kauto Star on Betfair at value odds.

Beating the big freeze

It’s that time of year again when the horse racing industry is held hostage by the vagaries of the British weather, writes Elliot Slater.

To a neutral watching from the sidelines, the chaos caused by the first proper snowfall of this winter is hard to understand when you see just how comfortably other northern European nations cope with the conditions. If Scandinavian countries can operate their airports without a hitch when there is more than a metre of snow on the ground, why can’t the British equivalents keep the show on the road when only four inches fall? It can’t have been the biggest shock for snow to have fallen the week before Christmas, can it?

And for airports, it might also be argued that you can read ‘racecourses’. How many times over the years have racing fans and punters been left with little or no action to get their teeth into because the Boxing Day races have fallen foul of the weather.

Nowadays most tracks have covers for vulnerable, if not all areas of the course, but invariably they prove ineffective because they haven’t been deployed in time. Listening to Wetherby’s clerk of the course Jonjo Sandersn droning on about how his team were caught out by the sudden snowfall is a bit too much to stomach. With all the meteorological forecasts at their disposal I strongly suspect that it was more a case of someone not paying good enough heed to the information available; I suppose we’ll never know.

The losers in all this, the racing public, the betting industry, the many owners and trainers, can’t afford to miss out regularly. We all must have fingers very firmly crossed that this year’s Boxing Day action, including Kauto Star’s eagerly anticipated King George, doesn’t disappear into the ether. OK, it might be rerun at Newbury or some similar venue, but it won’t be the same away from Kempton, viewed from the post-Christmas sofa, with a pile of turkey sandwiches and cranberry sauce for company.