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3.35pm Star shines to win historic fifth King George at Kempton
Kauto Star became the first horse in history to land the William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton five times with a quite brilliant performance under Ruby Walsh.
Just as he had been when landing Haydock's Betfair Chase last month, the Paul Nicholls-trained 3-1 chance was once again ridden positively for this three-mile test.
The 11-year-old was in front with a circuit to go and as he quickened the pace heading down the back straight, he produced some sensational leaps to get his rivals in trouble.
Last season's King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Long Run stayed on tenaciously in the home straight, but Kauto Star was not for catching and had a length and a quarter in hand at the line.
The incredible French-bred gelding had all but been written off at the start of the season, having been left chasing Long Run's shadow in the King George and the Gold Cup before pulling up at Punchestown in May.
With his career on the line, the veteran produced a superb performance at Haydock in November to consign Long Run to the runner-up spot, but the general feeling was that Nicky Henderson's stayer would make the bigger step forward at Kempton.
However, Kauto Star travelled strongly throughout and it was clear from the turn for home that Long Run was failing to match his impressive speed and jumping.
While the latter did bridge the gap from Haydock, Kauto Star was always in complete command and was once again too strong.
William Hill cut Kauto Star to 9-2 from 10-1 to claim a third Cheltenham Gold Cup, with Long Run eased to 3-1 from 5-2.
Nicholls said: "He's just awesome and I knew we had him in serious order.
"I don't know why he wasn't quite right last year. It was a massive plus having Ruby [Walsh] here today and it's just unbelievable.
"It's amazing. He's just the best. If he gets to Cheltenham in that form he'll be the one to beat [in the Gold Cup]." PA
3.05pm Binocular holds off Ruby in Kempton thriller
Greg Wood: Binocular, the 2010 Champion Hurdle winner, recorded his first win since February as he took the Grade One Christmas Hurdle at Kempton by a neck from Rock On Ruby, who enhanced his own claims to be a credible Champion Hurdle contender in the process.
The battle to the line from the final flight involved two brave horses and the most famous in an enthralling race pitched the two contenders An enthralling race culminated in a battle from the final flight that pitted Tony McCoy against Ruby Walsh, and Nicky Henderson against the man he is trying to displace as champion trainer, Paul Nicholls, with victory in the balance until the final strides.
Ruby Walsh, on Rock On Ruby, made the first move in the home straight as the pace-setting Overturn started to tire, but McCoy was soon launching his own challenge on his inside. Rock On Ruby still led over the final flight, but Binocular quickly took a narrow lead which he held, under a strong drive, all the way to the line.
Binocular, who would have started favourite for last year's Champion Hurdle had he not been scratched a couple of days before the race due to a medication problem, was clipped from 14-1 to 12-1 by William Hill for this season's renewal in March, while Rock On Ruby is 12-1 from 16-1 for the same race.
The Champion Hurdle favourite is Hurricane Fly, last year's winner, at 2-1, who has not seen a racecourse since May but is a possible runner at Leopardstown on Thursday.
2.35pm Crus brilliant with Grand victory at Kempton
Will Hayler: Without Big Buck's to boss him over hurdles, Grands Crus is making hay as a novice chaser this season and he extended his unbeaten his run with a commanding performance over two high-quality rivals in the Feltham Novice Chase.
Determined to ensure that the race was run at a sufficiently fast pace, Tom Scudamore sent the favourite to the front with seven to jump and extended into a clear advantage around the home turn. The pack were closing in towards the finish but Grands Crus was still well in command at the line, even though the winning margin was down to two and a quarter lengths.
This time next year Grands Crus could well be tackling the King George VI Chase, but although David Pipe confirmed that the six-year-old will get an entry in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham and March, he seemed lukewarm about the prospects of taking on Long Run and the biggest names.
"I will need to talk to the owners, but there's plenty of time still on his side and the RSA Chase would be my preference," he said. "He'll have one more run then go to Cheltenham.
"We were a little worried about Silviniaco Conti's turn of foot, so Tom and I knew we would want to make it a good staying test. He doesn't jump exuberantly, but he's efficient and gets from A to B which is what matters."
1.20pm Tetlami on target for Tolworth after opening-race win
Tony Paley: Nicky Henderson and Barry Geraghty had a terrific start to the day at Kempton when winning the opening race with Tetlami.
Their winner went off the 11-8 favourite and held off Vulcanite, a first jump runner for Sheikh Fahad Al-Thani's Pearl Bloodstock operation, who made an impressive debut but was not as polished as Tetlami over the flights, finishing three and a half lengths behind.
Henderson said: "He's going the right way, although he was doing a little bit too much early on, but he clearly enjoys it. The ground was very tacky at Sandown and I thought after that he wanted good ground.
"Barry said we'd need to make sure the ground was all right for him in future and I'd think the Tolworth Hurdle is now a possibility as I'm sure he's a two-mile horse.
"He's just getting the hang of things really, and last time out he won despite the sticky ground at Sandown," said Henderson, who nominated the Supreme Novice Hurdle as the likeliest Festival target for Tetlami, owned by controversial British Horseracing Authority chairman Paul Roy. William Hill cut the winner to 20-1 from 25's for the Supreme after today's opener.
The victory gave a boost to the prospects of Knight Pass in the closing contest, that horse having finished third to Tetlami last time out.
11.25am Kempton Park open for business
Will Hayler: The gates are open, Clive Smith has done his first interview for the closed-circuit television station and jockey Dominic Elsworth has just completed a circuit of the Kempton Park track on foot.
I doubt I'll say anything today pull up as quickly over the winning line as Elsworth did, but well done to him for shaking off some of the Christmas excesses with a good gallop.
As predicted, a dry couple of days have led to conditions being almost perfect ? good to soft, with good places on the chase course ? and there really shouldn't be any complaints about the ground from anyone taking part today.
Unfortunately for each-way punters, one less horse than expected is lining up with Diamond Harry pulled out - officially reported "lame" by his trainer Nick Williams - this morning.
This isn't the first time that Williams' star chaser has been ruled out of a big race with an eleventh-hour ailment and there had already been an element of controversy to the horse's participation with stable jockey James Reveley allowed to ride elsewhere.
Williams' mobile appears to be switched off or out of range this morning, but there had been plnety of eyebrows raised when Reveley was given permission by his trainer to ride at Wetherby. The jockey would only answer "no comment" when asked before Christmas to explain his riding plans.
10.25am Diamond Harry out of the King George
Tony Paley: Diamond Harry is out of Boxing Day's William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton.
The eight-year-old was scheduled to run againsth reigning champion Long Run and the revitalised Kauto Star in the three-mile Grade One race but his trainer, Nick Williams, declarted this morning that he will not run with the gelding, who is reportedly lame.
Today's TV races
Captain Chris (3.10) can deny the big names to take this year's William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton Park. While most will be cheering for Long Run or Kauto Star, both took part in a gruelling Betfair Chase at Haydock only five weeks ago which left the pair looking like punch-drunk prizefighters by the time they plodded past the winning post.
Long Run's victory in this contest last season was undeniably impressive, but with Kauto Star below-par the performance lacked depth. There was absolutely nothing to crab about his subsequent success in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in which he powered away from Denman and Kauto Star.
However, maybe that was a sign that the nimble, speedy horse who ? only days after turning six ? outsprinted his rivals to win this race last season had matured into an out-and-out stayer for whom stamina has become his most effective weapon. We may now have to wait until he returns to Cheltenham to see him at his very best.
That certainly appeared to be the case behind Kauto Star at Haydock last month when a couple of quite serious jumping mishaps failed to derail his persistent challenge.
Kauto Star already holds legendary status here having won this race four times in the past, but a fifth victory is surely asking too much. Paul Nicholls made no secret that, with a point to prove to those who had called for the horse's retirement, he had turned the heat up far earlier than usual before Haydock. His initial reservation to commit the horse to run here again tells its own important story.
Since making his racecourse debut only last February, Captain Chris has always shaped like a future star, mopping up two Grade Ones over two miles as a novice, while all the time promising to scale even greater heights over this trip. His participation here was in doubt until the start of the week when a workout and schooling session delighted jockey Richard Johnson.
Kempton 1.25 Very smart over hurdles in his youth, Temple Lord has started to put injury problems behind him and could be on the way back up the ladder.
Wetherby 1.45 Far better treated over fences than hurdles, Knockara Beau has fine claims if his jumping holds up.
Kempton 2.00 Only Big Buck's could stop Grands Crus over hurdles and having done the job nicely on both starts over fences, he could rise right to the top as a chaser.
Kempton 2.35 Having found substantial improvement for his first run of the campaign in the past, Binocular is capable of reversing recent form with Overturn and confirming the form of his victory in this race last season.
Horse sense
The 500 acres of the historic Mandown gallops in Upper Lambourn have been used for preparing champions for many decades and Long Run (3.10) bids to follow in those hoofprints in the King George VI Chase at Kempton today.
Despite having his own top-class facilities at Seven Barrows, Nicky Henderson opted to take Long Run and Christmas Hurdle fancy Binocular (2.35) to Mandown last Saturday for a serious workout designed to bring his big-race runners to concert pitch.
The likes of Fred Winter and Peter Walwyn knew that if you had a horse who had enough left to climb the final hill there, you would be all right, and Long Run looked every inch the champion.
That said, the vibes from the Paul Nicholls yard are also positive about his pair, and Captain Chris delighted Philip Hobbs with one of his very best pieces of work at the start of the week, so it certainly won't be a one-horse race.
Binocular seems ever less willing to fully exert himself at home, so it's entirely fair to imagine that his fitness will have improved since his run in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle last month.
Henderson also likes to win two-mile five-furlong handicap hurdle on this card and has taken it three times in the last five years. Consequently, Busker Royal and Kells Belle must be of some interest with preference for the former.
However, Knight Pass (3.40) looks to have got into this contest on a very good mark for his handicap debut and a big run from Tetlami in the opener would give a notable boost to the form he showed when third at Sandown last time on ground considered to be unsuitably sticky.
Jockey Noel Fehily is sure to be disappointed to be missing out on the ride, but ought to enjoy the consolation of a winner or two at Fontwell with Be My Light (1.00) and Dun See Dee (1.30) the best of his chances.
Seen and heard
Renowned racing writer Michael Tanner put in a recent appearance on satellite television station, the Yesterday Channel, when taking the great-grandson of jockey Bertie Jones to Epsom racecourse during an episode of the ancestry-tracing 'Find My Past' series. Jones was on board Anmer, brought down by Emily Davison in the famous Derby of 1913, and although ? unlike Davison ? he survived the incident, he remained haunted by it for years afterwards. Tanner was evidently just the right man for the job as he continues work on his new book 'The Truth of the Suffragette Derby', looking not just at the actions of Davison for which the race is most famous, but the controversial post-race stewards' enquiry. The book is scheduled to be released next year to commemorate the race's centenary.
There were red faces at Bangor on Monday when, in an unprecedented situation, no bookmakers turned up to take bets in the course enclosure at the track. Instead punters were forced to make do with the on-course Tote pools, although security staff did allow some to make shuttle runs into the main enclosure. "We try to offer punters the choice by making sure at least one bookmaker is there but on this occasion there were so few punters on a freezing cold day that nobody was prepared to go," said one of the bookies later.
Will Hayler's best bet
George Nympton 1.50 Huntingdon
Nick Williams's five-year-old looks the best bet at any of Boxing Day's nine meetings. He creeps in just under the line in this novice chase restricted to horses rated 0-115, but might not have done had his main rival El Mondo not fallen two out last time. That bit of fortune has kept his rating down for this and he looks a horse on the up having taken so well to the switch to steeplechasing.
Will Hayler's other tips
Fontwell
1.00 Problem Atic 1.30 Dun See Dee 2.05 Run To Fly 2.40 Whatshallwedo 3.15 Hazeldene 3.45 Pepito Collonges
Ffos Las
12.35 Meister Eckhart 1.10 Langley 1.40 Me Julie 2.15 The Great Alfie 2.50 Fabalu 3.25 El Lobo 3.55 Tornado In Milan
Huntingdon
12.15 Big Occasion 12.45 Bishophill Jack 1.20 Cool Steel 1.50 George Nympton (nb) 2.25 The Laodicean 3.00 Call Me A Star
Market Rasen
12.25 Nesnaas 1.00 Accordintolawrence 1.35 Beamazed 2.10 Fairynuff 2.45 Pure Genius 3.25 Tarantella Lady
Towcester
12.20 Speed Master 12.50 Baile Anrai 1.20 Halucha 1.55 Junior Jack 2.30 Johns Spirit 3.00 Guydus 3.35 Prasina Russata
Wincanton
12.30 Chesil Beach Boy 1.05 Politeo 1.40 Deireadh Re 2.15 Swincombe Flame 2.50 Ballyfoy 3.20 Rangitoto 3.50 Notcantdoit
Wolverhampton
1.15 Look At Me Now 1.50 Not Bad For A Boy 2.25 One Way Or Another 2.55 Gritstone 3.30 Woop Woop 4.05 Harvard N Yale
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/dec/26/boxing-day-talking-horses
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