Culloty: Leopardstown best option for Best Mate
Jockey Jim Culloty today said that although Best Mate was still entered in the Stan James King George VI Chase, the intention was to go for the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown on Tuesday.
The three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner has landed both contests in the past, but connections believe that he is much better suited by the stiffer test of Leopardstown than the sharper Kempton track, and also have Impek and last year’s King George hero Edredon Bleu to represent them there.
“In an ideal world, Edredon Bleu would go to Kempton, Best Mate to Leopardstown, and we would find something for Impek after,” Culloty told Racing UK.
“But the three of them all want good ground so it all depends on what happens over Christmas. Even though the race is cutting up in Ireland, if the ground was bottomless, we would have to think long and hard about running.
“Every horse has a ground preference, and if it came up soft, he might cope with it, as the track really suits him, but there might be a real mudlark in there.”
Best Mate made his reappearance over at Exeter last month, where, ridden by Timmy Murphy, he was made to work hard by Seebald in a muddling race.
Culloty will be back aboard this time, having recovered from injury, and he believes that form should be good enough on its own to ensure victory.
“I heard he worked brilliant the other day, he is in great shape and on the back of his run at Exeter he should show them a clean pair of heels,” he continued.
“It ended up as a sprint finish and the ground was a bit dead that day, and Seebald has a lot of speed, so it was a better performance than a lot of people give him credit for.”
