March 7 - Tom Taaffe, trainer from Portree Stables in County Kildare has ruled former winner Kicking King out of this year's running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

10-year-old Kicking King made a heartening return to the track in January when he came second at Gowran Park but failed to continue the trend when he came third in his second race of the year. After a workout this morning, Tom Taaffe wasn't happy with his charge's performance and neither was top jockey Barry Geraghty.

Kicking King who won the King George VI Chase in 2004 and 2005 as well as the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2005 appeared to be fine, but his legs are not up to Gold Cup standard said his owner, Conor Clarkson. Clarkson said that keeping Kicking King out of the Cheltenham Gold Cup was not necessarily a prelude to retirement and that he merely needed a little break.

Clarkson added that Kicking King may have a lingering, low-grade virus which was causing the lackluster work, but should he show some extra oomph in his training in the next few weeks, he would in all likelihood go to the Punchestown Gold Cup in April. Kicking King won the Punchestown Gold Cup 3 years ago.

The antepost odds on Kicking King repeating his Cheltenham Gold Cup victory were a substantial 20-1 at the time of his withdrawal from the race.

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2011/12/09 12:47:47 AM