Lostintranslation worth talking about
● Tizzard’s star can overcome Cyrname in King George and aim for £1m bonus
Lostintranslation can come through his sternest test so far, and stay on track for a £1million bonus this season, by winning the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton.
Colin Tizzard’s brilliant chaser has chalked up two convincing successes to start his first campaign outside novice company, and his Betfair Chase triumph at Haydock means he has a shot at the bonus if he can win again in today’s Boxing Day feature and in the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Lostintranslation is arguably more likely to prevail in the latter, given his running style but also because he may well not have to face Cyrname over the extra distance at Cheltenham either.
Paul Nicholls’ Grade One winner, a seven-year-old like
Lostintranslation, has been a revelation on his last three starts – all at Ascot – which first propelled him to the top of the ratings and then cemented that position when he got the better of Altior last month.
Cyrname ought to be no less effective at Kempton than Ascot, but the snag for him is that his remarkable improvement has come at three furlongs shorter than the three miles he will face here.
There are nagging doubts too for Lostintranslation, but his near seamless progression indicates he should silence them. He was still a novice on only his second chase start when he demolished the thirdlast at Newbury 13 months ago – a mistake which stopped him in his tracks and consigned him to third place behind La Bague Au Roi.
There have been no such issues since. Indeed, he has impressed significantly with his jumping of late but fencing accuracy will surely be under the microscope once Cyrname ups the ante from the front.
Lostintranslation’s other feasible vulnerability is tactical pace over a sharp track, although last season’s fine twoand-a-half-mile form against the speedy Defi Du Seuil suggests he should be adaptable.
As long as he avoids any untimely error, Lostintranslation is therefore likely to have the measure of Cyrname as well as his Nicholls’ stablemate and King George title-holder Clan Des Obeaux.
In Altior’s absence, Nicholls’ great rival Nicky Henderson is unrepresented in the Boxing Day showpiece, but he is anything but that in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle, which he is bidding to win for the ninth time this century. Of Henderson’s three hopes, Fusil Raffles presents a compelling case.
The four-year-old did not please everyone with the manner of his hard-fought victory on seasonal return in the Grade Two Elite Hurdle at Wincanton early last month.
But Henderson made it clear that the three-quarter-length success from Nicholls’ Grand Sancy was a mere starting point for what he hopes will be a championship campaign.
Fusil Raffles is surely better judged on either his Grade One win against his contemporaries at Punchestown in May or his British debut success, over this course and distance, in last season’s Adonis Juvenile Hurdle. That came on good ground, and the one caveat may be a much softer surface on which he is as yet unproven.