Azertyuiop 50-50 for King George
The Ditcheat handler will be represented in the Grade One showpiece by his Peterborough Chase winner Le Roi Miguel, but has yet to make a decision over Azertyuiop’s participation.
The seven-year-old has not raced beyond two miles one furlong over fences, so the King George’s three-mile trip would be totally new territory, and Nicholls has the option of running him in a race over the minimum distance at Wetherby on the same day.
“I’ll enter Azertyuiop in the King George and the Castleford Chase and we will have a good look at both races,” the trainer said yesterday.
“I would say that I am literally 50-50 at the moment. There is plenty to consider, especially the ground, and John (Hales, his owner) and I will need to have a good chat to see how we both feel.
“It would be stupid to commit him to the race until much later when so much could still go wrong, but Le Roi Miguel is a definite runner and seems in very good form.”
Our Vic looks set to miss the Stephen’s Day showpiece at Kempton.
The Martin Pipe-trained six-year-old took a crashing fall at the final fence in the Bonusprint.com Gold Cup last weekend and was on the ground for some time before getting to his feet.
“He’s still pretty battered. Realistically, I’m struggling to get him ready for Kempton now,” said Pipe.
“Seebald will run and so will Tiutchev, who was second last year and seems to have become a forgotten horse. He’s in good form and we’ll hope for the best with him.”
Our Vic’s owner David Johnson also has recent Cheltenham winner Therealbandit in the Grade One feature.
Johnson said today he has not quite given up all hope of Our Vic making the Christmas feature.
He said: “There’s still 12 days to the race and I think it would be a bit premature to definitely rule him out yet.
“Obviously, he had a setback with that fall at Cheltenham and he missed a few days work as he recovered but it was really just bruising.
“I’m not saying he will run, it just might be jumping the gun a bit to say he definitely won’t.”
Meanwhile, Your A Gassman delighted Ferdy Murphy in a full-scale workout in Middleham yesterday to earn a crack at the Feltham Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Stephen’s Day.
Your A Gassman has shown himself to be one of the most promising recruits to fences this winter and on his latest start beat Gingerbread House by 18 lengths at Kelso.
Murphy said: “He worked like a dream today and has done absolutely nothing wrong. I know we’ll be taking on the top southern and West Country stables at Kempton, but I think he deserves to have a crack at them.”
Murphy is to give Truckers Tavern another tilt at the Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase at Wetherby, a race in which he fell last season, despite the gelding failing to live up to expectations so far this season.
Elsewhere, Hughie Morrison yesterday issued an upbeat bulletin on Frenchman’s Creek, who looks set to take his chance in the Coral Welsh National as long as the ground is not heavy at Chepstow.
Morrison was delighted with the gelding’s latest effort when he was third behind Therealbandit at Cheltenham last week and is confident of a big run in the December 28 marathon, even though his charge has been shin-sore.
Morrison said: “He is really pleasing me and is fully fit, which means the shin-soreness will not interrupt his training schedule.
“I am keen to take him to Chepstow and will just have to keep my fingers crossed that the ground rides good or good to soft.”
Morrison, meanwhile, is holding back with his useful novice chaser The Last Cast, who went down fighting against Contraband at Sandown after winning smoothly at Uttoxeter.
He added: “He ran a cracker last time and was in this weekend, but I didn’t want to give him three quick races and will wait for a nice race in the New Year.”
