PAUL NICHOLLS has said everything is in place for Kauto Star ahead of his bid for a fourth successive William Hill King George VI Chase victory at Kempton a week tomorrow.

The dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero is aiming to emulate Desert Orchid by winning the Grade One Boxing Day feature for a fourth time.

The nine-year-old made a winning seasonal return but he had to battle for his short-head victory over Imperial Commander when landing a third Betfair Chase at Haydock last month.

Nicholls, though, thinks that run will have put him in the ideal shape for Kempton following his latest piece of work at the Ditcheat stables.

The champion trainer said: “He worked with Big Buck’s on Wednesday morning and all went very well.

“He’s come on a ton for Haydock. I’m not saying he wasn’t fit, but it has mentally sharpened him up.

“He will do a bit more on Saturday morning, school next week and then have his final workout on Thursday.”

Kempton are confident of staging the fixture despite the current cold snap.

One or two fixtures have fallen to the frost and snow is expecting over much of the country during the coming week. But Kempton clerk of the course Brian Clifford is confident the meeting will go ahead with a mild Christmas Day forecast.

“We are raceable this afternoon and are deploying the frost covers as a precautionary measure,” Clifford said yesterday.

“The forecast for the next four or five days is not good, with five to 10 centimetres of snow due to fall and overnight temperatures of around minus three.

“Temperatures are due to rise from Christmas Day into Boxing Day, so we are very optimistic.”

Ground conditions at Kempton are currently described as good to soft.

TODAY’S NAP: Rosie All Over (2.50pm Uttoxeter).