Taaffe ace is King again

Kicking King held on in determined fashion to take a scintillating renewal of the Stan James King George VI Chase at Sandown.

Tom Taaffe’s Gold Cup hero returned to his best form with a vengeance, but still needed to pull out all the stops to keep the brave Monkerhostin at bay by a neck.

Barry Geraghty swept into the lead after the second-last obstacle and stayed on gamely to take his second consecutive King George at odds of 11-8.

Monkerhostin ran a blinder to take second place, with the front-running Impek a further five lengths away in third.

Impek and Ollie Magern set off at a breakneck speed and remained the pacemakers until the latter faded as they turned for home.

Kicking King always had the principals well within his radar, however, and loomed large on the outside before taking the lead two from home.

Taaffe’s seven-year-old looked to be stretching clear in the run-in, but the Philip Hobbs-trained Monkerhostin, who travelled fluently throughout, came from another parish to set up an enthralling finish at the line.

A brief wait for photo-finish outcome confirmed that Kicking King just had enough in the tank, holding on to register his first victory since Punchestown in April.

But Kingscliff, who beat Kicking King in the Betfair Chase last time out, was the disappointment of the race and finished well in arrears of the major players.