On Boxing Day, a bronze statue of Kauto Star will be unveiled in Kempton's parade ring to honour the horse's astonishing achievement of winning five King George chases at the course between 2006 and 2011. SIMON HOLT, who called all those races for Channel 4, remembers Paul Nicholls' outstanding jumper. I hold Kauto Star in huge affection. He is probably the best horse I've called, the horse of my career and the horse of a lifetime. We were on air one day at Newbury in 2004, two years before his first King George win, and it was his first start in Britain. We didn't show it live but he won the race. People were in position, ready to go on air, and it was amazing how many of them pressed their key and said 'that looks a really good horse'. You know instantly when you see something special and it was unmistakable that day when he beat a horse of Francois Doumen's called Foreland - and he just progressed from there. He won the Tingle Creek the following year, fell in the Champion Chase, came back and won the Betfair Chase, another Tingle Creek and then lined up for his first King George. He duly beat Exotic Dancer, who was a horse really progressing at the time, and one of the things that typifies quite a few of Kauto Star's wins at Kempton was that he would invariably take it up leaving the back straight - as he did in 2006 - and he just killed them from there, they just melted away. People often say the King George is run over an easy course but of course it's the speed that's the killer and the race is run at such a pace that in many King Georges they've walked home because of that. It does actually take quite a strong stayer to win the King George and that year was typical because he led from the third last and it was just relentless. He threw in his trademark last-fence blunder - that was something he grew out of later - but the win really established him as an amazing horse. It showed he could win Grade 1s at two miles and three miles, just three weeks apart. His 2007 King George, when he lined up as the reigning Gold Cup champion, was just an annihilation again. He was always on the bridle, went clear after that last fence in the back straight and soon had the race won. It wasn't a big field and it's possible Exotic Dancer didn't run quite as well as he had the year before but that was probably the most impressive one of all. Kauto Star didn't really sparkle at the start of the 2008-09 campaign. I thought he was just a bit workmanlike winning at Down Royal that year and then he got rid of Sam Thomas at Haydock - and actually was by no means certain to win a race won by Snoopy Loopy, who would be a vastly inferior horse. Throughout his career he did have the odd day when he didn't quite seem to fire, particularly as he got older, and there must have been concerns in the Nicholls camp after Haydock. They can't have been so confident going to Kempton that year, even though he still started a short-priced favourite. But when it came to it, again he put up a fantastic performance, beating Alberta's Run, with Voy Por Ustedes, who was probably a non-stayer, in third. If you read the comments back it's the same thing: led after four out surged, clear from three out - and it's just what he was able to do. When other horses were beginning to slow down off a puishing pace he was able to keep it going. And he followed up three months later by destroying Denman to regain his Gold Cup. In 2009, when he won by 36 lengths, he beat Madison Du Berlais, who wouldn't have been of the same class as Our Vic and Exotic Dancer, the horses he thrashed in 2007. Despite the winning margin, it was the weakest of his King George wins. Owing to poor weather, the 2010 race was run two weeks after its advertised date, in January 2011. His whole campaign would have been geared towards December 26, and it's possible he wasn't quite at its best on the re-scheduled date. I was on holiday and flew back to call the race because there was so much build-up surrounding the race. Everyone wanted to see if the horse could create history but he ran a bit flat and you could tell he was beaten early in the home straight. It wasn't one of his best days, but of course at this stage he was 11 years old - and although he subsequently ran well in Long Run's Gold Cup which was an amazing spectacle, he was pulled up at Punchestown. People called for him to be retired because he ran a lifeless race in Ireland which was so unlike him. You could forgive people for thinking he had gone. But I felt that he was being written off for just one bad run. All the same, when he came back to win at Haydock in November it was so unexpected and I have never experienced an atmosphere like we had that day. We had a shot of Nicholls punching the air in sheer vindication afterwards after defying the critics. One of his enigmas was that he could throw in an appalling jumping mistake but mostly, and particularly round Kempton, he jumped brilliantly Of all Kauto Star's wins, that one at Haydock was the most emotional one to call, because that was the day when it was so unexpected and everyone was so overcome by it. I was driving back from the course and the producer Andrew Franklin rang me up to say 'I just want to have someone to talk to' because that was such an unforgettable race. I will always remember that Andrew got Tony McCoy to make a few comments sitting next to me during the race and as they went over the last, both of us jumped to our feet and gave it a roar, and he was quite moved by it too I think. I felt a bit sorry for Sam Waley-Cohen on Long Run, who got a bit of criticism for being an amateur and for not riding quite so strongly. Nobody really wanted him to win. I think Nicholls said after Haydock that they'd got Kauto Star absolutely primed for that day, and that might explain why he then went off at 3-1 at Kempton with Long Run the even money favourite because maybe people felt there weren't many good days left in him. The thing I remember, apart from the amazing atmosphere at the racecourse and the celebrations afterwards, was the jumping which probably made all the difference between winning and losing. Whereas Long Run made a mistake or two, Kauto Star's jumping was superb all the way. One of his enigmas was that he could throw in an appalling jumping mistake but mostly, and particularly round Kempton, he jumped brilliantly. He was a horse who had incredible scope at a fence. He was five years older than Long Run who was still very much on the up and to beat him at the age of 11 was just sensational. And to break Desert Orchid's record - I don't think there's ever been a reception at Kempton like it - not since Desert Orchid's fourth win anyway. For his last run, back at Cheltenham, he was never quite right in the run-up so it was a bit touch and go whether they were going to run him. Ruby Walsh pulled him up and that was actually really emotional because when it was announced he'd been pulled up the crowd burst into applause. It just shows you the affection in which the horse was held. Simon Holt was speaking to OLIVER BRETT and will again be calling the King George at 3.10 this Boxing Day live on Channel 4. Tune in for the Morning Line at 7.55am and live racing from 1.15pm.
Great article Wooly and I feel lucky to have witnessed a few of those wins. We have been spoiled and it's unlikely we will see a force such as him again. Denman was and always will be my fave but there's no denying that Kauto Star is a true great. Thanks for posting.
