26th-Dec-2018

I think that there is a good angle into this race.  I think that favourite Santini is shorter than he should be.  He is an exciting staying novice chaser, but Kempton may not be his track.  He is a real galloper who is well suited to Newbury and Cheltenham, and he may be vulnerable going right-handed at Kempton Park, where the fences come at you quickly.

Bags Groove should be well suited to Kempton, right-handed and fast fences, but I am not sure that he has the class of some of his rivals.

Topofthegame is a horse that I like a lot, we have had him on side in the past and he was tempting here but, at a bigger price, I prefer the mare La Bague Au Roi.

Warren Greatrex’s mare did really well over hurdles last season and, while she was beaten at Cheltenham and at Punchestown, she has burst onto the scene over fences this term.

She stayed on well to win her beginners’ chase at Newbury in early November, and she stepped forward from that significantly last time to win a Grade 2 chase back at Newbury last time, when she probably had Lostintranslation’s measure when that rival made a bad mistake at the third last fence.

She is going to have to step forward again if she is going to win a Grade 1 contest, but there is every chance that she will.  She gets the 7lb mares’ allowance, the ground should be ideal and she beat Jer’s Girl and Midnight Tour in a listed mares’ race over hurdles last season on her only run to date at Kempton.  She could run a big race.

LA BAGUE AU ROI WON (SP 8/1)