Forecast Looks Positive for 2011 King George Meeting at Kempton
- By A.J. Ryder on December 19, 2011 19:15 GMT
After last years fiasco and the subsequent running of the King George at a different racecourse in mid-January, it appears as though this years' second iteration of the race is all-systems go after positive news from the clerk of the course Barney Clifford.
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There is some cold weather due earlier in the week but things are expected to heat up a bit with temperatures rising to around 4C throughout the latter part of the week.
At the time of this writing, the ground is officially rated as good to soft, good in places. A total of 15mm of rain is in the forecast prior to the BoxinG Day showpiece. Clifford was clearly indicating tha he expected the going to soften up a bit by the time they're ready to go on the 26th.
Speaking to the media, he declared, “It was a law of averages that we would have a bad winter and the team were bitterly disappointed last year but when the temperatures dropped to as low as minus -8C there wasn't anything we could do... I'd expect it to be good to soft come Boxing Day. It was white this time last year so I'm delighted we haven't had to use the frost covers.”
The ante post markets are really beginning to heat up for this contest with Long Run now priced as low as 5/4 with several bookmakers and the legendary Kauto Star priced at around 7/2 with another range of European-based bookies. The match-up is set to be their second this year with Kauto finally getting one over the young upstart who bested him in last year's Cheltenham Gold Cup and the rescheduled King George.
Paul Nicholls will have Kauto Star rearing to go for this one and he's boasting some really good form at the moment if his Betfair Chase form was anything to go by.
With the going looking to get softer by the day of the contest, we may be seeing a withdrawal from Kauto Star's stablemate Master Minded who will be stretching out in distance for this one. He tends to flourish over firming going so if things are particularly soft they may opt to deploy him elsewhere as he might be up against it over those types of conditions.
