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http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news … 34440.html
I know he had a really hard race in the Betfair and you’d be worried with the King George coming up but I would just love to see him run over 2m again. With the prevailing weather forecast maybe he will as well…
I live to be contradicted on this one, naturally, but I’m inclined to regard this as having been a speculative entry, one as much to see whether the race looks especially weak or not as to think seriously about running him.
Remember that connections have stated for quite some time that Kauto was pretty unlikely to figure in the Tingle Creek this year, as along with the King George it would have meant taking in three Grade 1s in under six weeks – too much, it was thought, even for him.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
i think with monets garden and voy por ustedes likely to be in the race i dont think it would be wise to enter kauto in the race with it being so near the king george as much as i love the horse and he did well to come back at monets garden at such a big weight i dont think its a wise move
I’d love the ground to come up soft so he could show the ‘champion chaser’ who the true Champion Chaser is.
According to PFN, it’s in case the ground proves too soft for Twist Magic. We can’t have Alan King & Nicky Richards hogging all the fun now, can we?
I don’t know how happy I’d be with that reasoning if I were Clive Smith though- 19 days before my horse goes for the second leg of a £1M bonus, and he’s in a race over an inferior trip (WRT his targets nowadays anyway) effectively as his stable’s second string! Must be confident of him winning the KG doing handsprings!
Granted, the chance of someone slapping a cheque for £1m in your hand makes anything pretty tempting, but is there not the faintest possibility that Clive Smith and Paul Nicholls just want to show Kauto Star off a little?
He is, by far, the most talented horse in training at the moment (even if Denman is posied to challenge him over extreme trips) and there’s no reason why money should be a factor in not continuing to prove just how good he is. If it is, then connections are no better than Jim Smith and Henrietta Knight were with Best Mate (though their vice was Gold Cups, rather than money).
Jim Smith?
Is that the rather dour football manager or the snake-hipped Newcastle United star of the seventies?
I think we should be told.
“If it is, then connections are no better than Jim Smith and Henrietta Knight were with Best Mate (though their vice was Gold Cups, rather than money).”
Connections’ sympathetic and careful handling of Best Mate was, arguably, a huge factor in enabling the horse to complete a feat that you have to go back 40 years to find a parallel for. (Lewis not Smith btw)
Jim Smith?
Is that the rather dour football manager or the snake-hipped Newcastle United star of the seventies?
Or the tubby, mute, stoic bass guitarist-cum-punchbag out of Cardiacs?
Probably not.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
From the RP
A WEEK after his next-door-neighbour wrested the Gold Cup limelight away from him, reigning champion Kauto Star could be given an early opportunity to prize it back.
Wet weather in the run-up to Saturday’s Grade 1 Paddypower.com Tingle Creek Chasemay yet see Kauto Star attempting to show Denman, his Paul Nicholls-trained stablemate and Cheltenham Gold Cup joint-favourite, who’s boss, following the latter’s sensational Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup win last weekend.
The ground at Sandown looks set to be "well on the easy side" on Saturday – and Nicholls has already aired reservations about running Champion Chase prospect Twist Magic on a soft surface.
Should he defect, that could leave the door ajar for Kauto Star to bid for back-to-back victories in the 2m showpiece. William Hill go 8-11 ‘with a run’.
Nicholls said on Monday: "Kauto’s fine if we want to run him. I only put him in case it rained all week and the ground came up soft or worse. It was just to have the option."
On the day KautoStar was entered for the Tingle Creek last year, Nicholls and owner Clive Smith described the engagement as "tentative and "just a maybe".
However, 24 hours later Kauto Star was deemed all set to run, with Nicholls saying "we don’t want to mess about".
Unlike last year, though, Nicholls boasts a leading fancy anyway this time in the shape of Twist Magic, who was on Monday installed 3-1 second favourite, behind Voy Por Ustedes at 6-4, by the sponsors.
Nicholls, who also has Hoo La Baloo among the 14 entries, added: "If it was very soft I would be getting nervous for Twist Magic. It might be a Friday decision if the ground were testing, but I would definitely not run both him and Kauto Star. Hoo La Baloo will definitely run."TwistMagic won his prep race well at Kempton in November and if Voy Por Ustedes and Monet’s Garden run, it’s going to be a very exciting contest. Twist Magic is very well and we’ll be expecting a good run but I’m not going to say he’ll win.
"He has never run over fences around Sandown, but he’s a good jumper, so hopefully the railway fences won’t cause any problems."
Nicholls has risen inexorably in the jump trainers’ title reckoning over the past month, and another big-race win this weekend would see him power further clear of the chasing pack.
At the start of November, Nicholls lay in seventh place, but big-money wins for Kauto Star, Denman and Mr Pointment, among others, have resulted in him leapfrog six places in the championship table in four weeks.
STOPPED IN THE SAME HOTEL AS PAUL NICHOLLS LAST WEEKEND AND SPEAKING TO HIM HE FAVOURS KAUTO . THINK HE WANTS TO SHOW HIS TALENTS AND NOW WELL CHIEF IS OUT, WHAT IS THERE TO LOSE WILL KEEP HIM FIT IF NOTHING ELSE
This looks like a case where people will be able to say "I told you so"
If they run Kauto, he gets injured and misses the KG and maybe even the GC.
The sensible thing to do would be to wrap him up in cotton wool and run him only in the 2 big ones.
Ya let’s Best Mate him and grab 1 mil.
We have already seen Denman being asked to carry lumps of weight in the Hennessy when he could have run in a less taxing race.
The trainer and owners are not the type to run and hide and 1 mil to the owner is probably like lose change to him.
Kauto is a tough horse and to have 5 or 6 races in a season is hardly running him into the ground.
If for some reason he lost the King George because something happened in the Tingle Creek I would be as sick as a parrot. It’s the first leg of 2 single and a double for me and one of the biggest bets I have ever had. Add that to the money In addition I have been lumping on to him, in singles for the Gold Cup, Add that together and it will be the most I have ever had on one horse in my life.
If he hit 3/1 I will lump on him again
The owner and trainer have the right to run him where they choose. There is almost 3 weeks between races and plenty of time for Kauto to recover from his exertions should he run.
If he was mines and the 1 mil meant nothing to me I would run him on Saturday in a heartbeat. He’s tough as nails and will probably win doing handsatnds if he runs.
If he runs and it goes wrong we will all be saying "They should never have ran him" but lets face it lightning can strike at anytime..he could break a leg (god forbid) on the gallops tomorrow.
Look at Dessie or Arkle and the times they ran in a season. They had a lot tougher program than Kauto.
The owner wants to see his horse run as often as possible and so do the public.
The horse will be in the prime of his racing life soon. I hope he runs 6 times this season and wins them all…stuff the money and mollycuddling him, I want to see him go down in history as a true chapmion.
Good luck if he runs on Saturday.
It would be great to see Kauto Star run on Saturday and show his versatility that only exceptional horses have. To own or train a horse like him must be amazing, when you can run him over 2m or 3m 2f. It didn’t do KS any harm last year running in both the TC and KG. If the gap between the 2 races was the same as last year, I think they would run him, but it’s only 18 days compared to 24 days last year and I think that’s what’s concerning them.
I wouldn’t dare say what his best trip is. PN said a few weeks ago he is no longer a 2m4f horse………..man he talks some dribble at times………..only to plaese the press of course I am sure privately he is a gem of a man.
I think his ulitimate trip could be 2 furlongs
Joking of course but I have seen a few forses fall and get back up to win but I will never forget Exeter………….falls at the 2nd last hardly time enough to get back on never mind catch the leader…….remounts and almost gets up on the line…….the speed he showed to do that is something I have never seen before depsite the thousands of races I have seen."…….man he talks some dribble at times………"
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…………..now who does that remind me of?!
Colin
wasn’t he actually injured at Exeter and Ruby almost lost the ride on him because of it??
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