| Can Beef Or Salmon be a likely successor to the King?
Irish racing hopes were dashed for the coming year following injuries to
fancied Cheltenham prospects Harchibald and Kicking King last week. x
Cheltenham Gold Cup-holder Kicking King will not be able to defend the
title he won in such style last year at Prestbury Park after he was
ruled out following a tendon strain at Sandown Park on Boxing Day.x
Trainer Tom Taaffe has confirmed the eight-year-old will not be fit in
time to repeat last year’s triumph.x
He said: “He has strained his tendon and on veterinary advice, myself
and his owner Conor Clarkson have decided the horse will not run in the
Gold Cup.” x
Kicking King had been the x
7-4 favourite with both William Hill and Ladbrokes to take back-to-back
Gold Cups. However Beef Or Salmon, who had been rated by many bookmakers
as the main danger to Kicking King, is now likely to be one of the
leading contenders for the Festival showpiece.x
Beef Or Salmon has been confirmed as the new 5-1 favourite with Coral
for the Cheltenham Gold Cup having been cut from 10-1. x
Meanwhile Harchibald has undergone a successful operation to remove a
piece of birch from his leg. The Noel Meade-trained seven year old was
injured when finishing second to Brave Inca at Leopardstown.x
While not fully ruling him out of the Champion Hurdle, Meade was still
quite cautious about his prospects of making Cheltenham.x
He said: “I don’t know yet if he is definitely out of the Champion
Hurdle, we will have to play it day by day.”x
However Meade was pleased with his charge’s progress following the
successful operation at the Troytown Hospital.x
He said: “The news is pretty good really and they seem very happy with
him.”
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