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Turf topics: Crowd-pleaser Kauto Star set to show the fourth is with him
IT is one of the classic chases – and it is steeped in Yorkshire history.
Wayward Lad, the 'forgotten' horse from the all-conquering Dickinson stable, was the first horse to win the prestigious King George VI Chase three times.
His record was then eclipsed by great Desert Orchid – the 'silver shadow' co-owned by North Yorkshire's Richard Burridge – who went on to record four career victories in the traditional Christmas showpiece.
But both feats will be eclipsed if Kauto Star – the crowd-pleasing chaser and two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup victor – wins an unprecedented fourth successive King George victory later today.
The odds are heavily in favour of the superstar, trained by Paul Nicholls. He relishes Kempton. And, while there's depth to this year's field, Kauto Star has previously had the measure of market rivals Imperial Commander, Madison du Berlais and The Queen's Barbers Shop.
The unknown is Deep Purple, the hugely progressive Evan Williams horse who takes his place after following up his last-gasp success in
Wetherby's Charlie Hall Chase over three miles by winning a hugely competitive renewal of the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon.
However, unlike Cheltenham's undulating Gold Cup course, stamina should not be a worry for connections, according to Michael Dickinson, the record-breaking Harewood trainer who masterminded Wayward Lad's first two triumphs before his mother Monica oversaw the horse's hat-trick in 1985.
It also explains why Wayward Lad was agonisingly beaten in the 1986 Cheltenham Gold Cup by the heroic Irish mare Dawn Run. He had used up every last drop of energy to get to the shadow of the winning post, while Kempton was ideal.
"Kempton is not difficult in any way as long as your horse can go right-handed, which 95 per cent do," said Dickinson whose family monopolised the King George by training six winners between 1978 and 1985.
"With a flat three miles, obviously the horse has to have a little bit of speed and as the going is usually good and not heavy, some speed is essential.
"The only horses it would not suit is a two-miler who doesn't get the trip or a slow horse who needs three and a half miles in heavy going."
It is a view shared by John Francome, the former champion jockey and Channel Four pundit, who rode Wayward Lad in his first King George victory – and then, ironically, ended the Yorkshire hero's winning sequence in 1984 after giving Jenny Pitman's Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Burrough Hill Lad a sublime ride.
However, he says Kempton is primarily a jumping test. His abiding memory of the 1982 race is that the only person who greeted him in the winner's enclosure was Wayward Lad's owner because this was the day the Dickinson stable saddled a record-breaking 12 winners and the staff were scattered across the country.
"He was like a little metronome with his jumping and he'd always have it weighed up by the time you got to a fence," said Francome who added that a horse's ability to see a stride widened the parameters where the partnership could take off safely.
The importance of King George, as a race and spectacle, was highlighted this week by Simon Sherwood, the jockey who partnered Desert Orchid to his first two successes.
He has no qualms if Desert Orchid's record is matched by the current champion. "To me the King George and the Gold Cup are the two purest races. They are by far the best three-milers in the country, one is on a sharp track and the other on a galloping track," said Sherwood.
"Kauto Star is an exceptional horse. He has the ability to up his game to three miles and to three and a quarter. To me, that is the sign of a very special horse.
"If you take Master Minded away he would probably win a Champion Chase as well as Gold Cups.
"I love the way he gets over his obstacles. He's very quick and gets from one side of the fence to the other so quickly."
Neither Francome or Sherwood seems perturbed that Kauto Star, 10 on New Year's Day, could only beat Imperial Commander by a milli-second in last month's Betfair Chase.
They both believe that the Clive Smith-owned horse will improve significantly for the run – a point shared by trainer Paul Nicholls.
"That race has mentally sharpened him up. A run changes them, and he now looks better and sharper. I couldn't be happier," he said.
Big-race jockey Ruby Walsh concurs.
"I would say Kauto Star is as good if not better than last year," he said. "He is the greatest horse I've ever ridden."
Walsh regards Imperial Commander as the main danger – based solely on the Haydock race.
"That said, Imperial Commander seems to be a better horse going in the opposite direction, but he ran a cracking race in the Betfair Chase and he has to have a good chance," added the two-time Grand National-winning jockey.
"It's a race I really look forward to and if Kauto could win four King Georges he will go down in history."
Scudamore and madison du berlais hope to spoil the party at kempton
TOM Scudamore had hoped to ride 50 winners by Christmas. He fell one short – largely because of the big freeze.
But he will settle for bringing up his fastest half-century in today's King George VI Chase on Madison du Berlais and spoiling the Kauto Star party.
Even though Madison du Berlais was well-beaten by Kauto Star and Imperial Commander in last month's Betfair Chase at Haydock, Scudamore says his horse always comes on for his first run of the season.
"That was probably his best season opener," Scudamore told the Yorkshire Post this week.
"I rode him out on Tuesday and I think he has come on.
"It would be folly to say we will win the King George with Kauto going for his fourth win, but we do have our chance. We have to be on our A-game and something to go wrong with Kauto Star."
The champion's tendency to jump left-handed will not be sufficient, says Scudamore. "That's being very, very picky. He's a great horse who has won a Grade One race over two miles and a Gold Cup over three and a quarter miles.
"There are no chinks in his armour. Every time I've ridden against him, he has come past me pulling double. It's very difficult to plan how to beat such a great horse. You can't.
"It will be great to reach 50 winners (today). It will be better still if it's in the King George but, realistically, we need to be at our best – and Kauto needs to have an off day."
KING GEORGE VI GREATS
n Wayward Lad: 1982, 1983, 1985.
n Desert Orchid: 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990.
n Kauto Star: 2006, 2007, 2008.
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