Great news. A better price on Long Run should now be attainable.

Indeed.

great news, correct decision, can't wait

win then retire?

If he stays healthy, I'm sure he'll run in the Gold Cup. If he has a bad day at Kempton they'll just say the Betfair took more out of him than they'd thought but he'll be fresh for Cheltenham, and that Chelt suits him better than Kempton nowadays. The Nicholls excuse playbook is really quite formulaic.

so we get to see him run twice more? well what a pleasure that will be

put up a good show old son!

lay of long run for me at the prices.

that's unlucky!

nope Ruby is riding Kauto!

alan, think they said they are giving him a long break and then back to the festival.

McCain did say that.

So why did he leave him in at the recent scratching stage?

And why, yet again, has not a single member of the press room spotted this and rung the trainer?

thanks headmaster did you speak to the stable ???

Yeah i wouldn't mind an update too mpr, as i was thinking about backing it on the day but fear his odds would be much depleted than current on the day if he goes so want to add him to my portfolio for the KG but am fearful i am just throwing money away if i back him!

RT is a non-runner http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=racing/11/12/16/RACING_Theatre.html&BID=465

Does anyone think Kauto may not run if the ground comes up like it has at Newbury and Ascot in recent days? In the past they've tried to avoid soft ground with him (nd it should suit Masterminded)

I do not like the way the racing media start eulogising about NH horses, and treating them like they are machines. All the hyping of Kauto Star running in the KG... I don't like it, the same way I didn't like the way they did it with Denman. These chasers are putting their necks on the line every time they go out to race and it is tempting fate. I don't think he will win, would rather see KS retired after all his lion-hearted efforts, and just hope to see him return safely.

if kauto wins the king george i will never again have it, when, after a below par run from a horse , the trainer comes on and says....he wasn't supposed to be at his peak today, his target is months away.

at haydock kauto was hard fit to give nicholls every chance to prove the doubters wrong, i worry that we will see a far poorer performance from a horse who has already had his big day.....i also take it as a negative of their opinion on MM getting the trip.

still banging on about the Gold Cup?

It is my opinion that LR will not be winning this season. I just can't have it. He looked laboured at haydock. My opnion comes in equal measure from the law of averages and form shown lto.

Ok you can argue that we will see a different horse in the KG same as last year, but will we? Will he really be able to repeat the same as last term in that he showed improvement for the first run to the next? Bearing in mind that last terms first run of the season was a handicap and this terms was a grade 1 i cannot have it. A beating from KS by 8 lengths at the line (the margin was no more than 3 at the last) gives me an opinion that KS and MM will have it their own way on Monday. Mad you might think but i am entitled to an opinion. CC is a major threat too and i have taken some 8/1 the other day.
I am wary of master minded not getting the trip, but at 10/1 the other month i backed him as at that price was willing to find out lol.

Law of averages tells everyone he wont be winning, look at the gold cup winners over the last 20 or so years, i compared just the last 10, we been very very lucky in that we have had horses this last 10 years that have been slightly better than the opposition on offer that particular year. Best Mate won it 3 times, KS twice. But what else do we have, Kicking King, Looks like trouble, See more Business, War of Attrition i can go on, how many of them great horses came out the season after and showed the same level or better form?

Quite possibly it is a little weird. And yes, he may well have showed improved level of form as last terms fto, which only tells me there will be limited improvement on his 2nd outing compared to last term. Like i said, we have been very lucky last few years, i.e BM KS etc, but the same was said of all them other gold cup winners, they were all pretty short prices for the debuts the next term, and win on debut or not, they never quite showed the same level again in their next seasons after winning. But all carried the expectations that they would be better!

Don't get me wrong, i will be very happy for him to come on out boxing day and prove me wrong, a new superstar to emerge would be good for the sport. And i will be taking some of the 6/1 i was offered on him completing the double (KG & GC) but i wont be backing him for the single. The double bet is merely an insurance bet as if i am proved to be wrong and he does win the KG my 6/1 will be no bigger than an evs - 4/5 chance and a nice win lay of him in the GC will lock in a nice profit and ensure i level up with my stakes on what i have already backed in the KG e/w.

Never once said Long Run has had it tbf, just said that his proper top season maybe was last term and now he will find it a little tougher as the years progress as does many a top class horse over the sticks and flat!

Ok sint, yes he is 6, that is made quite obvious! I stand by what i saying. Lets see who is laughing come Monday afternoon then shall we. It is a horse race, therefore anything can and possibly will happen. Everything fell into place last term, just a hunch that i have that his top season was last season and he wont top it. Maybe because his opposition were relatively out of form or had excuses, Nichols has since said KS wasn't properly finishing off his races, this looked more and more apparent as the season went on being pulled up in his last outing but very well backed. We don't yet know how good MM might be at the trip/kempton he is preferred to go right handed after all and then we have CC, also relatively unknown, a horse that would have pished up in the Haldon gold cup but for that horrendous blunder!

It certainly wont be no cake walk! If it is though, i wont be hiding, i will be getting pi$$ed with family and friends and so don't be surprised im not on please. I am not knocking the horse, i just prefer to go against the seamingly obvious in a race and plump for the e/way alternative in top races, something that as it turns out i am right at times i.e betfair chase. I went the same way with KS too when he was upped to 3 miles for the first time, i remember saying he wont get it in a horse box, how wrong i was, and have since become a big Kauto fan! Just the way i tick with young horses pretending to be the next superstars!