Long Run can get off on the right foot

THE reappearance of Gold Cup champion Long Run and two-times winner Kauto Star in today's Betfair Chase is the highlight of a pretty good day of action across the water and, with a really useful supporting cast in the day's feature, it's about as good a chase as will be seen before the Gold Cup at Cheltenham next March.

Kauto Star won this race three times out of four attempts in the last five years and he unseated when challenging for the lead after the last fence on the other occasion. Clearly it's a race that has been very good to him but he didn't run in the race last year and his official rating has dipped more than 20lbs from its peak back in the 2009/2010 season.

A current rating of 170 still puts him ahead of all of today's runners bar Long Run and, I suppose, that is part of the reason why it can be argued that he represents good each-way value at around 7-1. However, there are issues with that assessment. Firstly, there are only seven runners, which means only the first two home matter, and secondly, his slide down the ladder has been quite dramatic as he only won one race last year - the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal.