King rules for Geraghty

Punchestown report: Barry Geraghty wrapped up a great weekend as Kicking King eclipsed Beef Or Salmon in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown yesterday.

Still on a high after Moscow Flyer's famous Sandown success 24 hours earlier, Geraghty produced another fine front-running ride to take the Grade One showpiece aboard the 2 to 1 chance as the Michael Hourigan trained favourite could only finish a disappointing third.

In the process he left himself with a possible Kempton quandary with this winner's next start due to come in the Stan James King George VI Chase - the race Jessica Harrington is toying with for Moscow Flyer. In practice, Geraghty has already stated that he would never be able to step aside to allow another jockey to ride Moscow Flyer.

But if that horse's connections elect not to take the Kempton route then the rider still has a first-class chance of taking the St Stephen's Day showpiece with Kicking King, 6 to 1 (from 11 to 1) with the sponsors for the King George but just 4 to 1 (from 12 to 1) with Coral.

"He got a bit tired on the run-in but he was entitled to do that in the ground," said Geraghty. "He jumps for fun and he is a quick-thinking horse, which is a useful quality to have at Kempton. I think he would be the ideal type for the King George really as he stays further than this two and a half miles and has plenty of pace."

Uneasy in the market in the light of support which saw Beef or Salmon go off at 4 to 5, Tom Taaffe's gelding jumped superbly throughout - in direct contrast to his main rival - on his way to beating Rathgar Beau by 11 lengths. The favourite travelled well enough early on but was niggled along down the back straight and a slow jump at the third-last fence cost him any chance of success.

It was Harbour Pilot who led the field over the first four fences but he came under pressure leaving the home straight on the first occasion and after starting to jump alarmingly to the left, was soon pulled up. His departure left Kicking King in front and Geraghty grabbed the opportunity to take the race by the scruff of the neck, pulling four lengths clear heading into the back straight.

Native Upmanship and Rathgar Beau gave chase into the home straight but their efforts were in vain as Kicking King was away and gone. While Rathgar Beau kept on for second, Beef or Salmon got his second wind and stayed on again close home to just deny Native Upmanship for third spot by a short-head.

Bookmakers were quick to react to the defeat of Beef Or Salmon with VCBet pushing him out to 14 to 1 from 8s for the totesport Gold Cup. Kicking King, meanwhile, was cut to 16 to 1 from 25 to 1 by Ladbrokes.

A delighted Taaffe confirmed he is now looking towards the King George for his stable star. "I'll go to Kempton in the next 10 days and walk the course to get my bearings but that race will definitely be the plan," he said. "I don't think three miles is a problem for him and certainly three miles at Kempton wouldn't be anyway. He's a better horse on good or yielding ground which is what we should get there.

"Whatever happens he will have a holiday until Cheltenham, when I would like to run in the Gold Cup. I don't want to compare him to Florida Pearl for any reason but to wonder whether he might be another horse who doesn't quite stay the Gold Cup trip. But that is something we'll ponder after Christmas and not worry about before.

"I believe it won't be a problem but it might just come a year too early for him. What Barry did today was sit up after the last and give the horse another lungfull. He refilled the tank and that's always a good thing to do. For now all that's important is today. The John Durkan is a special race to win."

Hourigan was not too despondent afterwards, blaming the drop back in trip and recent injury problems for his charge's show. "It's not as disappointing as it looks," he said. "He missed a full fortnight and you can't do that against fit horses like the winner. You can see by the sweat on him that it's not the sweat of a fit horse. He didn't have a hard race and we will probably go for the Lexus (at Leopardstown on December 28th)."

Beef Or Salmon's rider Timmy Murphy seemed far from convinced that the eight-year-old had been giving the race his all and even suggested the application of sheepskin cheekpieces might improve his focus.

But Hourigan seemed less enamoured with the suggestion and remarked: "It's just a thought but I don't think that would be the answer. The trip was on the short side for him today and there will be another day for us. It looks like we'll have to take on Best Mate if we go to the Lexus but you can't be afraid of one horse."

Rathgar Beau delighted his connections: "He's had a hard enough race today but we'll look to find another one for him soon and hopefully we can avoid running into Moscow Flyer again!" said trainer Dusty Sheehy.