Walsh to ride Florida Pearl in King George
This was confirmed by the rising 11-year-old's trainer, Willie Mullins, yesterday. The in-form Barry Geraghty, who had developed an excellent rapport with Florida Pearl, was expected to again take the ride.
But he has decided to go to Leopardstown on that afternoon and Mullins moved quickly to acquire the services of Walsh who is, of course, his stable jockey.
Given the current shortage of pilots in Britain, and the amount of racing at Christmas-time, it made sense to look to Walsh to renew his relationship with Florida Pearl. He will be at Kempton in any case that day to partner Mullins' Champion Hurdle candidate, Davenport Milenium, in the Pertemps Christmas Hurdle.
Florida Pearl had a very hard race, ridden by Geraghty, when fourth behind More Than A Stroll in the James Nicholson Wine Merchant Chase at Down Royal last month. That took a lot out of the gelding, but he is now reported in "great form" by Mullins.
It will be the third time Walsh has ridden Florida Pearl and he has never won on him. The last occasion they teamed up together, Florida Pearl finished second to First Gold in the King George two years ago.
Eight jockeys in all have ridden the horse and only Walsh and Conor O'Dywer, who was in the plate just once, in this year's Cheltenham Gold Cup, have failed to win on him. Those who have done the business are Jim Nash, Richard Dunwoody, Adrian Maguire, Richard Johnson, Paul Carberry and Geraghty.
Davenport Milenium, brilliant winner of two races at the Punchestown Festival in April, has yet to make his seasonal debut and goes to Kempton in the hope of getting some decent ground.
A maximum of 11 runners will line-up for the King George and among Florida Pearl's rivals in the £150,000 Grade One contest will be Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate and Bacchanal.
Best Mate's trainer Henrietta Knight has also left Lord Noelie in the race, while Bacchanal's trainer Nicky Henderson could be represented by Marlborough as well.
Also left in at yesterday's confirmation stage was Francois Doumen's First Gold, successful in the 2000 King George but only fourth 12 months ago.
Another French challenger for the prestigious contest is Guillaume Macaire's giant chaser Douze Douze, who finished second to Best Mate at Huntingdon in November when he was having his first taste of British fences.
Arthur Moore meanwhile plans to run Native Upmanship, who has never won over the King George trip of three miles but was very impressive at Punchestown last time while the inclusion of champion two-miler Flagship Uberalles adds further spice to an already intriguing contest.
Doumen said yesterday that First Gold's presence in the King George confirmations was a precautionary measure as the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown on December 28 remains his main target.
"We are unlikely to run in the King George," Doumen declared. "It is only as a safeguard if there is a problem and he can't go to the Ericsson.
"The main programme would be to go to the Ericsson at Leopardstown but we wanted to stay on the safe side just in case there was any difficulty getting there."
The Chantilly trainer believes he has First Gold back to his best following his return to action at Punchestown earlier this month on his first start through injury since last year's King George.
First Gold finished a staying-on third to Native Upmanship on his return over an inadequate two and a half miles which pleased connections.
"He's been super absolutely super since Punchestown," enthused Doumen.
"I'm going to give him another piece of work on Monday and then the horse will be sharp for his next race.
"I was delighted with him after a year off and his problems. He is pleasing me and I seem to have the horse back like he used to be. It is so far so good but you never know."
Willie Mullins hopes to run one of his two entries, BallyAmber and One Night Out in what could be a very competitive Pertemps Aviation Resources Feltham Novices' Chase at Kempton, also on St Stephen's Day.
Paul Nicholls has entered dual French Champion Hurdle winner Le Sauvignon, who made a winning debut over British fences at Folkestone on Tuesday, French trainer Guillaume Macaire has put the highly-regarded Jair Du Cochet in the Grade One contest, which is run over three miles, and Nicky Henderson has two entries, Irish Hussar and Iris Royal.
