Racing Kempton St Stephen's Day previewSt Stephen's Day spent with relatives can be a nightmare for those with an interest in racing as the call for lunch is invariably timed to coincide with the start of the King George VI Chase.
The need is as great as ever this year to make time to watch the Kempton spectacular as Kicking King, already a big name at home, bids to go stellar.
Although only in his first season outside novice company, Tom Taaffe's young chaser has ticks in all the right boxes and has been the ante-post favourite for the Stan James-sponsored race for most of this month since a victory at Punchestown.
The six-year-old could not have been more impressive that day when trouncing Rathgar Beau in the John Durkan Memorial Chase over two and a half miles.
Much has been made of the fact that he has not won over the King George's three-mile trip, and he was beaten by Beef Or Salmon over that distance at Down Royal in November. But Taaffe felt the ground was too soft for him that day, and Kempton's flat track and faster conditions are suitable even for those with slight stamina doubts.
Although he is not an original selection, Kicking King really does appear the most obvious winner and is difficult to get away from.
On a wonderful day's racing at the track just a stone's throw from London, Rooster Booster can start the process of bringing the house down in the Stan James Christmas Hurdle earlier in the card.
It is becoming in vogue to crab the popular grey in his advancing years (he turns 11 in a few days), but it cannot be said for certain that the 2002 Champion Hurdle winner is a spent force.
He needed two warm-up runs last season before he won at Haydock, then went on to run brilliant races in defeat at Newbury, Cheltenham and Punchestown, and Philip Hobbs has raced him twice recently.
Rooster Booster ran very well, finishing fourth on both occasions, giving away lumps of weight in a Cheltenham handicap before different tactics were used when he made the running back at Prestbury Park.
Harchibald is to be greatly feared as he has been extremely impressive in his two latest starts, looking every inch a Champion Hurdle prospect, but Rooster Booster does not look a bad price to take a chance on a return to form.
The third Grade One race on the Kempton card is the Stan James Feltham Novices' Chase, a race packed full of nice types, and it is impossible to say that any one of the nine runners is without a squeak. Ollie Magern is entitled to be regarded as the best of them so far, having finished second in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup on his last outing.
However, he has had a series of tough runs and it may be that there will be better value to be found elsewhere, and Backbeat springs to mind.
He has had three chase runs so far, all at Exeter, and although he found the smart Ashley Brook too good first time out, that was his first start for nearly a year, and he has been imperious in victory on his other outings.
Trainer David Elsworth has a small but always select string of jumpers, and Backbeat looks to have a great each-way chance.
There is good, competitive racing across the country, and the other top-notch meeting is at Wetherby, where Lord Transcend is hard to oppose in the skybet.com Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase.
Unpenalised for his brave fourth in the Hennessy on his first run for a year, the grey has all the attributes to be a real crowd favourite and can only get better.
