Kauto Star Shortened to 4/6 as King George VI Chase Draws Near

Sizing Europe may have pulled out of this weekend’s widely-anticipated King George VI but a very interesting crowd of chasers will be looking to undo Kauto Star’s attempt to make history by winning his fifth edition of the prestigious Boxing Day fixture.

You can expect Kauto to run at nearly 1/2 if the volume continues to flow in on Paul Nicholls’ highly-respected superstar. Sitting at a 5/6 price for the better part of two months, Kauto now trades in the neighborhood of 4/6 or 8/11 across various bookmakers.

Long Run continues to hold onto his firm second favourites position and Nicky Henderson’s charge will be looking to build on his Kempton record after having taken the 2009 edition of the Feltham Novices’ Chase. The up-and-coming six year-old son of Cadoudal is going to command a slim price in the place-only market as he has never finished off the board in his hurdles or chasing careers. Punters can still find him trading as high as 6/1.

Nacarat managed a fourth place finish in the last edition of the King George and has only scored once in the better part of a year, capturing the Charlie Hall Chase on his seasonal debut at Wetherby. He has, perhaps, been biting off a bit more than he can chew in his past few races and a falling effort from Kauto may be the only instance where Nacarat has a reasonable chance at the score.

Perennial runner-up Forpadydeplasterer is being tracked as high as 14/1 but he is likely going to light up the place-only market thanks to his incredible run of seven second place finishes in a row and ten from his past eleven races. He has a good partnership with Barry Geraghty and he has been tangling with talented contenders such as Albertas Run, Big Zeb and the dearly-departed Twist Magic.

Madison Du Berlais may seem like the forgotten jumper in this one but he is still in the mix – and commanding an impressive 40/1, which will likely bring him into the each-way reckoning in a very big way. It should be noted that he ran second here last year and has never finished off the board at Kempton when going over 3m.

The Nightingale remains the big story in these final few days before the contest. He was trading as high as 40/1 back in December but has been clipped down to 10/1 with the weather forecast indicating soft ground- which the Nightingale has flourished on in the past.