Rumours abound that Kauto sprained a fetlock in wining the Ascot Chase today and may miss the Cheltenham Gold up. Perhaps one of our UK correspondents can comment further.
QUOTE FROM RACING POST
KAUTO STAR'S bid for a second Cheltenham Gold Cup success was the subject of an injury scare on Saturday night after he was found to be lame behind following an impressive success at Ascot.
However trainer Paul Nicholls was not ruling his brilliant chaser out of the Gold Cup and will know more after Clive Smith's superstar is examined again by his vet Buffy Shirley-Bevan on Sunday morning.
Nicholls had initially thought that the injury could have been a sprained fetlock. However, he later reported that Ascot's senior vet Sven Kold had informed him that it was possible that an infection was developing in one of Kauto Star's feet. If that was the case the problem could begin to improve within the next few days.
Kauto Star had hardened as favourite for the Gold Cup following his eight-length defeat of Monet's Garden in the Commercial First Chase but just after 6pm the eight-year-old was the subject of a sudden drift on betting exchangeBetfair with stablemate Denman taking over as market leader.
Earlier in the day it had seemed that only an act of God would prevent Nicholls winning the Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup in 26 days time.
The question racing had so badly wanted answering was with which of his two stars would he do it, and while Denman continues on the ascent, Kauto Star had showed that the final climb to chasing's summit would be extremely challenging with an emphatic triumph.
Set a more competitive testthan Denman faced in the Aon Chase, Kauto Star dismissed the top class Monet's Garden and Racing Demon, the performance convincing William Hill to cut the defending champion to 8-11 favourite from 10-11 and leave Denman at 7-4, but he remains available to back at Evens with Ladbrokes, Coral and Totesport.
Nicholls said after the race: “I don't think I have ever been so nervous as I have been this week. I didn't even watch too much of it.
“We wanted him to win like he did today. There was a lot not in his favour round here by racing right-handed and over a trip short of three miles but we can relax a little now and make sure everything goes right in the next month.
“I think he is as well as he has ever been, if not better. He looks great, we've left plenty to work on again but he is probably a lot fitter than Denman because he is that type of horse. I have a month now to put him spot on.
“It's always difficult to pick one. I have a certain amount of loyalty to him because he is the reigning champion but you could see on today's performance he is going to be very hard to beat. With those two horses unless anything goes wrong one of those two horses should win the Gold Cup on what we've seen. It's great to have two good chances that seem to be way above the rest of the opposition at this moment.”
Monet's Garden is more likely to wait for the Grand National meeting, but third home Racing Demon is back in the Gold Cup picture.
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