King may be out until January 2007

Tom Taaffe has warned that Kicking King may not reappear until January of next year after being ruled out for the remainder of this season with a tendon injury.

However, the County Kildare-based handler is confident his eight-year-old totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup winner will return to the track despite the setback.

“Luckily it’s in the upper part of his left-fore tendon so it’s a good area, as tendon injuries go, to recover from,” Taaffe told Sky Sports News.

“He’s a clear-winded horse and he’s an athletic horse so I would say he’s got a very good chance of making a full recovery and, please God, in time for the 2007 Gold Cup – we are going to give him all the time he needs.

“He will be kept doing walking exercises and various other treatments between now and then to hopefully enable a full recovery.

“There’s plenty of time involved and there’s plenty of horses that have come back in the past and gone on to do good things.

“You certainly won’t see him before Christmas next year. Whether he appears after Christmas for the big races or in January, but I would say January to get a run or two in him before the Gold Cup.

“He’s only eight at the moment and he’s been to Cheltenham three times in a row so it’s not the end of the world.

“Other things in the world are worse news so we’ll just have to carry on.”