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Imperial Commander's 'huge ask' in King George
IMPERIAL COMMANDER faces "a huge ask" in the Stan James King George VI Chase at Kempton, Nigel Twiston-Davies said on Monday.
The trainer has saddled one winner this month from 43 runners - in stark contrast to the previous two months, when he enjoyed 30 winners - and his stable star has been on the drift for the Boxing Day feature since last weekend, being pushed out to 9-1 (from 7) with Stan James.
Twiston-Davies said: "I'm very happy with him, but the whole thing is a huge ask and I'm not making any huge predictions. It's by far his toughest test, but he's fine and the idea is to run there, rather than at Cheltenham on New Year's Day."
Imperial Commander entered the King George reckoning when winning the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham last month, but was denied a chance to enhance his credentials when the Boylesports.com Gold Cup was washed out two Saturdays ago.
Twiston-Davies subsequently expressed a desire to avoid quick ground at Kempton, and the clerk of the course's prediction of going "on the easy side of good" met with his approval.
He added: "Iam looking forward to finding out just how good Imperial Commander is. Kauto Star remains the one to beat and Voy Por Ustedes may improve for the step up in trip.
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