Kicking King is set to return to action at Fairyhouse on 20th January after pleasing connections in a strenuous workout. The former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner has been off the track since landing the King George VI Chase in 2005.
Impressive though Tom Taaffe’s charge was in his heyday, very few horses are able to reach the same level of performance following such a long lay off. Consequently, his current price of 40/1 for this year’s Gold Cup makes little appeal at this stage. It would, however, be great to see Kicking King back in action and so connections will be keeping their fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong between now and his proposed reappearance.
Jack The Giant was an impressive winner of the inaugural Jelson Homes Chase at Leicester this week. The step up in trip clearly suited the Nicky Henderson trained six year old who jumped and travelled well throughout.
It is hard to gauge exactly what Jack The Giant beat, but the fact that he saw out the 2½ miles so well has opened up a number of alternative options for the horse and the Ryanair Chase looks likely to be his Festival target.
He is even better on quicker ground and a breathing operation in the summer really seems to have done the trick. He should go on any shortlist for the Ryanair and VCbet are currently offering the best odds of 10/1, which looks very reasonable.
The form he showed when third in last year’s Arkle suggests that he might struggle against the likes of Voy Por Ustedes and Twist Magic if he is targeted at the Queen Mother Champion Chase instead.
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