Kalahari King rocks at Redcar

Kalahari King continued his build up to the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase with another seaside outing to Redcar.

Trainer Ferdy Murphy is keen to offer the smart two-miler plenty of variety in his regime with less than two weeks until his big day.

Murphy, who is based at West Witton in North Yorkshire, used the same beach for some of Kalahari King’s preparation when his gallops were hit by the cold snap.

But an impressive win by the gelding on his comeback under top weight in a handicap at Doncaster showed the weather had no impact and he is only behind dual winner Master Minded in the Champion Chase betting.

“He worked on Wednesday morning and will work on Friday, but he has been down to the beach twice this week and he really enjoys it,” said Murphy.

“He’s one of those horses who goes paddling in the water and has a roll on the beach and a look around.

“Graham Lee said there were a few lads having a five-a-side football match there the other day and the horse was like a spectator.

“It’s only 50 minutes away and he likes going off in the box.”

Murphy has become a formidable presence at the Festival with one of his runners popping up in the handicaps most years.

He is whittling down a squad that will include progressive types Bedlam Boy and The Hollinwell.

“We will probably have 10 runners, and two in the charity race,” Murphy added.

“All of them have been aimed for Cheltenham and have had their prep races apart from New Alco.

“He hasn’t run yet but is having a prep for the Grand National in the William Hill.”