Events / Simon Rowlands / 24 December 2008 /

Simon Rowlands looks at Boxing Day's showpiece meeting where the sometime supreme yet undoubtedly flawed Kauto Star returns to the track for the King George VI Chase.

While Boxing Day marks the start of cold turkey (sandwiches) for most of the nation, it signals the end of a period of metaphorical cold turkey for fans of horseracing, many of whom clearly regard the blank days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as more than a little inconvenient.

The days of a dozen or so jumps meetings on Boxing Day in the UK are, perhaps fortunately, behind us. But there is no shortage of action for the racing enthusiast to take an interest in: seven jumps meetings and one all-weather Flat domestically and three jumps meetings in Ireland all told. Time to get swotting!

The highlight of Boxing Day racing is, of course, the King George VI Chase at Kempton, due off at 2:40. The mid-season championship for staying chasers has been won by such brilliant individuals as Desert Orchid (best Timeform rating 187), One Man (179), Best Mate (182) and Kauto Star (184) in the last 20 years.

The last-named goes for win number three in this year's renewal (which would still be one short of Desert Orchid's remarkable quartet of victories between 1986 and 1990) but seems likely to go off at odds-against this time, with doubts circulating about his current form and having resurfaced about his occasionally suspect jumping.

At his best, Kauto Star is in a different league from his rivals, as he showed when thrashing Our Vic and Exotic Dancer 12 months ago, but he was beaten at Cheltenham and Aintree in the spring, scored a bloodless victory at Down Royal in November and had a real fight on his hands against Snoopy Loopy, Tamarinbleu and Exotic Dancer when unseating at the last in the Betfair Chase at Haydock last time out.

It is undoubtedly possible that Kauto Star is a significantly better horse at Kempton than at Haydock - he had been none too impressive in winning the Betfair Chase last year before trotting up in this - but it is also possible that, as an eight-year-old who started his career over jumps nearly six years ago and who has plenty of miles on the clock, he is not quite the horse he was.

At [2.28] to back, Kauto Star looks plenty short enough given the doubts. By comparison, Snoopy Loopy (who ended up winning the Betfair Chase) is [29.0] to back, Our Vic (not seen since turning over Kauto Star at Aintree) is [12.0], Tamarinbleu is [25.0] and Exotic Dancer is [36.0].

One thing that is highly likely to be an important feature of this race is the pace. Air Force One, Briareus, Imperial Commander, Our Vic, Snoopy Loopy and Tamarinbleu are, to varying degrees, horses that "get on with things". Some or all of them are likely to pay the price for mixing it up front, and stamina is likely to be at even more of a premium than usual.

With that in mind, I am particularly interested in place lays of Voy Por Ustedes ([5.4] to back on the win market and [1.79] on the place market) and Imperial Commander ([12.5] and [3.55]).

The former is a talented individual (though surely not so good as his defeat of Master Minded at Aintree makes him look) but has spent his entire career running at shorter trips, while the latter is facing a big step up in class and surely won't get things his way in this. If they fail, they may fail entirely, which is a good basis when considering a bet of this kind.

Whatever happens, the King George VI Chase looks like being well worth the wait, but the Feltham Chase at 1:30 and the Christmas Hurdle at 2:05 both also Grade 1s are certainly tasty propositions as hors d'oeuvres go.

The betting for the former is dominated by The Market Man ([2.48] to back) and Breedsbreeze ([3.2]), and my preference is for the latter. They are both highly promising novices, but Breedsbreeze's thrashing of Ring The Boss last time looks more substantial than does The Market Man's defeat of Kicks For Free when receiving weight.

The Christmas Hurdle is not a vintage renewal, and I have to say I thought that Punjabi (2.2 to back) would be still shorter against rivals who all have something to prove in terms of ability and/or recent form. Punjabi was workmanlike in success at Wetherby on his recent reappearance, but that was against a former Champion Hurdler in Sublimity and we know that he will be suited by the test of speed that this is likely to represent.

There should be plenty of worse favourites around than Punjabi on the day. But there are 52 other races in the UK and 21 races in Ireland to choose from, after all!

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