‘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.

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‘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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