‘I wouldn’t be afraid of anyone’ – Trainer confident with 10-1 King George hope 🗣️

Patrick Neville, trainer of The Real Whacker, is brimming with confidence ahead of a tilt at the King George on Boxing Day. His stable star provided him with a huge Cheltenham Festival winner in March, when getting the better of Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. The Real Whacker has to recover from a disappointing run on seasonal reappearance but that doesn’t concern his trainer. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

‘There’s no real standout horse’

Neville is unperturbed by potential runners Allaho and Gerri Colombe, or last year’s winner Bravemansgame. He said: “It’s wide-open, there’s no real standout horse and I wouldn’t be afraid of anyone in there. They’re all good horses but a couple of them have had a couple of tough runs and hopefully we’re fresh and well. Everyone has their chance.”

The track could be a positive according to the trainer, who added: “We think Kempton will suit him, it’s a sharp track that takes plenty of jumping. The weather looks nice and hopefully there will be a bit of nice ground as well. Everything is A1 and we’re looking forward to it.”

‘We couldn’t be happier with him’

The seven-year-old was bitterly disappointing on his first start of the season in the Paddy Power Gold Cup but had some reasonable excuses. Neville added: “He’s come out of his run very well and we couldn’t be happier with him. A lot of things went wrong that day – the ground was number one – and he got a bit of an overreach, but in fairness Sam looked after him well.

Expected to be back to his best for the big one, Neville said: “He came back in and was sore for a day or two and we weren’t really looking at that race as he takes a run every year. Most of his hard work has been done now and I’m delighted with him, we’ll just keep him fresh and well in the next week.”

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