King to miss Cheltenham
Kicking King will miss the Cheltenham Festival after returning an unsatisfactory scope this morning.
The seven-year-old was a general 7-1 chance for the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup after winning the Stan James King George VI Chase at Kempton last time.
However, trainer Tom Taaffe confirmed: “Kicking King will not run in the Gold Cup due to having not scoped well this morning.”
Kicking King was also entered in the Daily Telegraph Festival Trophy Chase over two miles, five furlongs and connections had not made a decision on which race he would tackle.
With Cheltenham now off the agenda, Taaffe is hopeful that Kicking King will make a quick recovery with connections already eyeing a chance of some consolation at the Punchestown Festival.
“We felt that we didn’t have enough time to get him back on track before Cheltenham so he won’t go for the shorter race either,” said Taaffe.
“Hopefully we will have him right again for the Punchestown Festival at the end of April.
“Nothing has been apparent with the horse, he just didn’t scope well. The horse always tells you when to run and unfortunately he’s saying not to.
“It’s disappointing but these things happen and we hope to have him back for Punchestown.”
Kicking King has notched three wins from his last four starts, with his defeat coming when second to Beef Or Salmon at Down Royal in November.
Coral responded to the news by clipping Best Mate to 5-2 from 3-1 for a fourth Cheltenham Gold Cup win while they also cut Kingscliff to 11-2 from 6-1.
Strong Flow is now 7-1 from 9-1, and Celestial Gold to 10-1 from 14-1.
“It’s a terrible shame for the connections but it is also a terrible blow for many punters who had backed Kicking King at all rates down from 40-1 at the start of the season to just 7-1,” said Simon Clare, Coral spokesman.
Kicking King is the 4-1 favourite with Coral to win a second Stan James King George VI Chase later this year and they are also offering 14-1 against Kicking King winning the 2006 Gold Cup.
“At least Kicking King will live to fight another day and he is already Coral’s 4-1 ante-post favourite to retain his King George crown”, added Clare.
totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, Coral bet: 5-2 Best Mate, 11-2 Kingscliff, 6-1 Grey Abbey, 7-1 Strong Flow, 9-1 Beef Or Salmon, Rule Supreme, 10-1 Celestial Gold, 16-1 Sir Rembrandt, 33-1 Therealbandit, Our Vic, Pizarro, 40-1 bar.
