Kauto Star all ready for Aintree mission

Apr 1 2008 by Chris Wright, Liverpool Daily Post

KAUTO STAR is in fine form ahead of the totesport Bowl at Aintree on the opening day of the three-day Festival on Thursday.

The eight-year-old has won eight Grade One races, but lost his Cheltenham Gold Cup crown to stable-mate Denman last month.

But his trainer Paul Nicholls believes he is fit and ready for Thursday’s Grade Two 3m1f feature.

Nicholls said: “It’s a long time until next November and a lot can happen between now and then. There is no reason not to run him and I’ve checked everything. He worked really well on Saturday and Ruby (Walsh) sat on him and schooled him this morning.

“He’s really fresh and Ruby’s comment was that he obviously doesn’t like getting beat. I was really happy after he schooled this morning. To me he ran a cracker at Cheltenham, I think he probably ran a better race than in last year’s Gold Cup.

“He might just have been beaten on the day by an exceptional horse.”

Nicholls will be double-handed in the race with Racing Post Chase winner Gungadu also down to run.

The Ditcheat handler added: “Gungadu schooled with him and he runs as well, but off his handicap mark he’s got a mountain to climb. He’s in no-man’s land a bit as we either have to carry top weight in handicaps, which isn’t that attractive off 161, or take on the big boys.

“Some of these horses that have been to Cheltenham might not run their races and if that happened we’d be sick if we didn’t have Gungadu in the race.”

Meanwhile Nicky Richards will decide today whether Aintree specialist Monet’s Garden will take on Kauto Star in the Bowl or face Nicholls’ impressive Queen Mother Chase winner Master Minded 24 hours later in the John Smith’s Melling Chase.

The flying grey won last year’s 2m4f Melling Chase, but Richards said: “We just haven’t made our minds up yet which race to run in. We’re just going to think over the next 24 hours.

“He’s probably better over two and a half miles but the main thinking is just that Master Minded was probably the most impressive winner we’ve seen at Cheltenham for a long time. We want to try and choose the most winnable race, if that’s the right wording.

“Monet’s has got a great record here and the main thing is that we’ve kept him fresh, we didn’t go to Cheltenham. No doubt Paul trained both his horses for Cheltenham and you’d have to think Kauto probably had the harder race of the two.”