If it’s good ground [at Cheltenham] and Best Mate looks like the only real live contender then maybe we might have a shot at the Gold Cup.”. “Good ground is a huge thing for this horse because of his stride, his galloping and his jumping. Kicking King will not run again before Cheltenham and it may be that on the greatest stage of all in the spring he will contest the greatest National Hunt conditions race of them all.”I feel very proud for my parents that I was able to achieve something like this,” the trainer said. Pat Taaffe, Tom Taaffe’s father, will be forever legend in Irish training, as the jockey of Arkle, who collected the 1965 King George, and trainer of Captain Christy, a dual winner in 1974 and 1975.Now another great yarn continues, and Tom Taaffe is on the way to cultivating another branch of excellence on the family tree. Azertyuiop, a length and a quarter back in third, was sharp enough, but this was a trek too far.

Walsh said he knew four fences from home that his challenge was petering out.Kicking King’s story, however, looks set to run and run, much the same as that of the family of his trainer. I thought the horse was beaten and it takes a fair one to get going again and get his momentum back up.”Andrew Thornton, on Kingscliff, asked: “Where was a hill when I needed one?” Kingscliff, did not quite have sufficient competitive edge after almost a year off the track. I don’t know who was praying for him, but somebody was because he looked as though he was going out the right-hand-side door. When asked about the incident, he said he did not believe in Santa Claus. Or his presence at least.Taaffe pretended indifference about the last-fence blunder in the aftermath, but his emotions were scrambled at the time “How the horse stood up I’ll never know,” he said “He’s never missed a fence as badly as that before How Barry stayed on him I’ll never know either. Geraghty’s concentration on survival was such that he did not see the interloper.

Just at the moment rider and mount regained their equilibrium, a man dressed as Father Christmas ran across the track, a matter of yards from Kicking King’s snout He was arrested, but the leader was not. Then you just grab anything with hair.”One final problem remained. “I wouldn’t say he didn’t get the trip, because he did, but he was tired I got hold of him and he just galloped into it. I knew it was a bad blunder and I was going to do well to hold on Thankfully he was still there under me at the far side I did get an initial fright That’s what you feel Fear. They blasted through the obstacle.”Because of the mistakes he made down the back he was tiring,” Geraghty said.

Geraghty looked round and all that was there was a toiling Azertyuiop All he had to do was negotiate the final fence That was all. The rider took a heavy pull to correct his conveyance, but, for once, the partnership was not at one. I couldn’t measure a stride or organise him.”The view was more pleasurable once the partnership turned in for the last three. “From the start I knew he was the danger,” he said.Then, though, there was another problem, apart from strong horses and strong fences, to confront. The sun was disturbingly low and the fluent vaulting which usually characterises Kicking King’s efforts disappeared “Down the back straight it was very bad,” Geraghty reported “You could barely see the fences He missed a couple for that reason. By the back straight on the second circuit, Geraghty felt the time had come.His collaborator was sent to the front and through the gears as the jockey determined to test Azertyuiop’s range. In conjunction with Ruby Walsh, he did not waste a yard of ground as he scooted round on the rail.There had been some staying questions also asked of Kicking King, yet he was sent out with aggressive intent.