Kauto all set to Star in Ireland
Owner Clive Smith will have his fingers crossed when Kauto Star returns to action at Down Royal on Saturday in what could possibly be the top chaser’s final campaign.
Smith reports the 10-year-old to be all ready to run in the JNwine.com Champion Chase which he won in 2008.
It will be a crucial test, however, as it will be his first race since he suffered a bad fall when bidding to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup for a third time in March.
Trainer Paul Nicholls and his team at Ditcheat gave Kauto Star plenty of time to recover from that nasty experience, and have brought him gradually back to fitness for what amazingly will be his seventh season over fences.
“He runs on Saturday and we’re very hopeful he’ll run well,” said Smith.
“He’s much better in himself and he’s survived Cheltenham very well. He’s been out in the paddock and the fields during the summer, and everything is very good.
“We’ve got him right, although you never quite know when they are coming back after the horrific kind of fall he had that day.
“He’s been schooled and it’s all gone very well. He seems to have got over everything.
“He’s had a long time to get ready for the new season and this is all very good. It’s better to do that with the horse especially as he is 10, coming up to 11-years-old. You’ve got to look after them.”
Kauto Star has been lightly campaigned over the last couple of winters, but all being well he will be seen more times this term.
He has even been given an entry in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on November 27, but his major objective in the first half of the season is as ever the King George VI Chase at Kempton on December 26.
This year he will be bidding for a fifth successive win in the Christmas cracker, surpassing the great Desert Orchid.
“There is a little proviso (in heading straight to Kempton after Down Royal) in that we would like to have a crack maybe at the Hennessy, just as it might be his last season, and see how he goes,” Smith went on.
“We want to race him four times probably, or maybe five, but obviously always aiming at the King George and the Gold Cup.
“We’d still like to show he could do it in a big handicap, so we might go to the Hennessy, or we might not. It just depends on this Saturday really.
“He’s not showing any sign of ageing. In another year he will be 11 going on to 12 and he’s obviously got to be showing signs of age then, but he’s certainly fine at this moment.”
