Tuesday, February 9, 2010

King set to gauge strength of Cheltenham hand

Trainer will unleash some of his leading Festival fancies in the coming days with Mille Chief first to come under the spotlight at Huntingdon

Paul Nicholls again holds centre stage on Saturday when past winners of the Gold Cup and Champion Chase represent him at Newbury. In his shadow, however, Alan King will be hoping for further evidence that his string is firmly back on track.

Four days of unrelenting action, starting tomorrow with Mille Chief at Huntingdon, will go a long way to defining King's expectations for next month's Cheltenham Festival. The Betchworth Kid is then loosed on Friday, followed by Manyriverstocross, Voy Por Ustedes and possibly Bensalem on the day that Denman and Master Minded star at Newbury.

“We're running a lot of big horses and the pulse rises accordingly,” the trainer said. “The one thing we really don't want is any interference from the weather. I like to have a clear month to fine-tune my Cheltenham horses at home. All being well, we will be bang on course after the weekend.”

That, in itself, is a big step forward from a desolate December when the trainer's string remained under a health cloud. “I am much happier with the horses,” he said, “although as usual, one or two are not quite right.“There's no way we can catch up on what we missed before Christmas,” he continued, “but I'm comfortable with where we are now.” Indeed, Over Sixty's triumph at Market Rasen yesterday was a seventh winner in the past two weeks for the Barbury Castle stable.

Mille Chief is King's only Cheltenham favourite, so expectations are high that the French import will tomorrow enhance his claims for the JCB Triumph Hurdle. “All he needs is some match practice,” the trainer said. “I've not done much with him since he last ran and Choc [Robert Thornton] should be back to ride him. Choc has been down to school twice and is itching to return.”

Thornton, who has been out of action since suffering severe bruising to his back in a heavy fall from Cracboumwiz at Leicester last month, returns today with three rides - subject to Ludlow passing a morning inspection.

“I have entered Bensalem everywhere,” King said. “He could go to Newbury but I'm half-tempted to run him in a graduation chase at Exeter on Sunday.”

Bensalem looked held by Diamond Harry when he fell heavily at the third-last fence, yet his stamina for the RSA Chase seems more assured than that rival. The seven-year-old certainly features on a Cheltenham shortlist that holds intriguing possibilities, among them Medermit (Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle) and Karabak (Ladbrokes World Hurdle).

“Medermit goes straight to Cheltenham and is in wonderful form physically,” King said. “At the time no one realised the strength of last season's Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Go Native [a narrow winner from Medermit] has certainly gone on and so has Somersby - and I don't think we have seen the best of Medermit yet. He has surprised me but I think he is still improving.”

Karabak, too, makes straight for Prestbury Park. “He wasn't quite right for the Cleeve Hurdle but he's best when fresh anyway,” King said. “And you'd have to throw Katchit into the [World Hurdle] mix.”

Voy Por Ustedes, himself a former winner of the Champion Chase, takes on Master Minded in a race that marks the return from injury of the top-rated two-mile chaser in training. Nicholls reports that Master Minded will improve for his first run for three months.

However, most eyes at Newbury will focus on Denman's first outing in the hands of Tony McCoy. The 2008 Gold Cup winner - and runner-up last year - faces a maximum of eight opponents in the Aon Chase.

Source:The times

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