Macaire hoping for luck on Cochet's side

French trainer Guillaume Macaire is praying for a “little bit of luck” for Jair Du Cochet in the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.

Jair Du Cochet, a best-priced 7-4 chance, has been a leading fancy for the three-mile contest, which attracted a 12-runner field at Tuesday’s final declaration stage, ever since he beat Best Mate in the Tote Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon last month.

“He’s in good form – the same form as last time in the Peterborough Chase,” said Macaire.

“But of course a race is a race and especially a three-mile chase. There are plenty of fences to jump perfectly to have the horse ready to give his best on the run-in.”

Jair Du Cochet is a course and distance winner having landed the Feltham Novices’ Chase on the King George card 12 months ago.

Macaire continued: “It was good for him last year to win the Grade One novice.

“All the lights are green and now we need to have a little bit of luck during the race.

“In a three-mile chase you can have some bad fortune and it is necessary to jump well from the first to the last fence.

“He is a safe jumper but sometimes when he is alone at the last he tries to go to the left. He did that one year ago and the same last time.

“So in the race he must stay to the outside and keep the field on his inside because it is good for his confidence to stay wide but you need to have luck with you.”

As expected last year’s winner Best Mate misses the £160,000 showpiece and his trainer Henrietta Knight relies on Edredon Bleu.

With the trainer and owner Jim Lewis having decided to take Best Mate, last year’s winner of the Kempton contest, to Ireland for Leopardstown’s Ericsson Chase the door has opened for his regular companion ‘Blue’.

And judged by Edredon Bleu’s performances so far this season, he has earned the opportunity to prove his stamina over three miles.

Rather than going backward as he nears pensionable age, the 11-year-old has been a revelation, winning all three of his starts – most memorably when defeating Irish star Beef Or Salmon at Clonmel.

A previous attempt at the race ended in disappointment three years ago when Edredon Bleu appeared to run out of stamina in the home straight and faded out of contention to finish well behind First Gold, who runs again this year.

But connections are not being unrealistic in making a second attempt.

Equine athletes often develop greater staying power in the latter stages of their career as they continue to develop physically and exchange some of their speed for stamina.

And with the forecast good ground set to be ideal then Edredon Bleu, the winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2000, will never have a better chance to prove himself.

“This season he just seems to be staying on more strongly and having won over two miles and five furlongs at Wincanton, it has to be worth trying it again,” Knight said.

“I think he’s got a good chance of staying and I would love to see him run well because of everything he has done for us. He has been such a lovely horse to train for such a long time.

“I am just worried about whether he will get hassled for the lead as he doesn’t like being messed about in the early stages and he can be a bit sulky. We wouldn’t be trying to drop him out or anything like that because he just wouldn’t like it.

“He doesn’t have to lead, he just needs to be able to hack around enjoying himself. And if he can get into a good rhythm then I hope he will run very well.”

The 2000 winner, First Gold, is another raider from across the Channel.

The Francois Doumen-trained gelding finished fifth over hurdles on heavy ground at Auteuil on his return to action at the end of November as part of his big-race build-up.

Speaking from Deauville races, Doumen said: “The horse is in very good form. We think we have got him back.

“I haven’t had any problems and the horse is very well but you have to consider it is still a comeback race.

“He had that race in a bog in Auteuil but it’s still his comeback race. But he likes the track, likes the ground and he’s in very good form.”

First Gold has also been left in the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday.

“We didn’t know what the ground was going to be so we left him in as a precaution and unless anything dramatic happens he’s running (at Kempton),” Doumen explained.

Nicky Henderson runs Marlborough, second 12 months ago, and the improving Fondmort, impressive winner of the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on his latest start.

With Mick Fitzgerald on Fondmort, connections of Marlborough have booked Liam Cooper for the ride.

“We are delighted to be able to use a jockey as talented as Liam,” said Barry Simpson, racing manager to the gelding’s owner Sir Robert Ogden.

“We are being realistic about the race and it is going to be a very tall order for him.

“But on the plus side, he went into last year’s race in much worse form than he is now and ran probably the best race of his life so without Best Mate to beat again you never know.

“He wouldn’t be getting any quicker as he gets older but he has got experience on his side and hopefully he has got an each-way chance as long as it stays fairly dry.

“If it rained very heavily and turned soft then he might become an unlikely runner as he just doesn’t act on it.”

Pertemps King George VI Chase betting:

Ladbrokes: 7-4 Jair Du Cochet, 3-1 First Gold, 9-2 Fondmort, 10-1 Swansea Bay, Valley Henry, 16-1 Tiutchev, La Landiere, 20-1 Edredon Bleu, Le Roi Miguel, 25-1 Marlborough, 40-1 It Takes Time, 66-1 Seebald.