Ruby – I am not sure he really has a specific preference one way or the other but according to his RP stats page, the ground he has won most on is soft (3 from 5 with two 2nds), but then he has a perfect record on soft to heavy (1 from 1) and heavy (2 from 2) but he has also won twice on both good to soft and yielding and once on good ground at Sandown in April (in a time almost 4 seconds faster than standard).
Given that he is a German bred horse it is not overly surprising that he does well on proper winter ground but he seems a very adaptable horse regardless of the ground conditions and that is a very good string to have to your bow and will surely negate any of the kind of shenanigans we saw with Fact To File being pulled out due to the ground.
I could see GW coming back and having the same campaign as this season but it really wouldn’t surprise me if he went to the Savills instead of the King George which I would have thought would be the ideal race for Kitzbuhel (who incidentally has also won on good, good to soft, soft, soft to heavy and heavy ground in his short career) and is also two years younger than GW, so likely to be the horse for the future going forward. Could Kitzbuhel actually come over for the Charlie Hall before Kempton if Willie wanted to try to keep them apart somewhat, especially as he will be in his first year out of novice company?
Fingers crossed they all stay healthy.