Mighty Might! KING GEORGE HOTPOT TAKES CENTRE STAGE... BUT BE PREPARED FOR ROLLER COASTER RIDE
Thousands will flock to Kempton on Boxing Day to watch Might Bite, the boxoffice star, in the King George VI Chase.
Nobody doubts the eight-year-old’s brilliance, and nobody – including trainer Nicky Henderson – knows quite what the dark bay will do next.
Twelve months ago, Simon Philip, who heads the Knot Again Partnership, watched in awe as Might Bite and his jockey Daryl Jacob powered into a 20-length lead on the run to the final obstacle of Kempton’s Kauto Star Novices’ Chase.
But there was a twist – with Might Bite there usually is – as the pair were ripped asunder by a crashing fall.
“After Kempton, the feeling was a pretty desolate one, because you never know when you’re going to have another Grade 1 Chase at your mercy,” recalls Philip, whose day job – chairman of Kent County Cricket Club – allows him to pursue his National Hunt passion during the winter months.
“It was certainly a sense of an opportunity missed – would you ever have that chance again?” The wait wasn’t a long one for Philip and his co-owners as Might Bite captured the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March. But, once again, there was drama.
Henderson’s stable jockey Nico De Boinville sent his mount to the front, setting a searing gallop. One by one, his rivals cracked. “When they turn into the straight, commentator Simon Holt shouts ‘It’s Might Bite by a mile!’ – and you’ve got the best staying novice chasers in the UK and Ireland stretched out all over Gloucestershire,” adds Philip. “It didn’t go to script after that.”
With none of his opponents able to win the race, Might Bite contrived to lose it, veering towards the Cheltenham crowd and giving stablemate Whisper – in opposition at Kempton – a grasp at victory.
As Whisper strained for the line, Might Bite engaged in a private sweepstakes with Irish runner Marinero, running loose alongside after unseating his rider at the third fence.
The renewed effort brought the tearaway a nose margin.
“Perhaps he deserved that,” reasons Philip. “That loose horse turning up – there might have been some poetic justice there.”
At least Might Bite’s last two victories – at Aintree, his last race as a novice chaser, and at Sandown on his return last month – have been happily devoid of the theatrical.
In Sandown’s Future Stars Intermediate Chase, Might Bite raced calmly under De Boinville’s restrained riding before bounding up the hill to win by eight lengths.
“As a 4-9 shot, you’re expected to win, and perhaps people were expecting him to ‘do a Might Bite’,” adds Philip.
“It was a situation that could only go wrong, so that was very encouraging. He has this huge stride which takes him to places the smaller horses can’t go.” The victory saw Might Bite’s King George odds slashed and he’ll canter to post as hot favourite for Britain’s signature midwinter horse race.
But the presence of, Bristol De Mai, Thistlecrack. Whisper and Fox Norton makes this King George a searching Boxing Day test. And Philip will be watching to the end.
“Crossing everything, I will be offering up a small prayer. I just hope he runs his race, completes, and we know where we are,” he said. “Just about the only thing he hasn’t managed so far is to be hit by a meteorite after the last.”
Where Might Bite is concerned, never say never.