Somersby looks the best each-way option for the King George
Published:Finding some each-way value in the King George odds is not the easiest task, but punters may be best to rely on Somersby retaining his impressive level of consistency to finish in the first three at Kempton.
Many punters largely see the King George as a four-horse race, with Paul Nicholls duo Kauto Star and Master Minded the obvious challengers to defending champion Long Run, while Captain Chris may prove the young pretender able to spring a surprise.
However, with the foursome all priced at 8/1 or shorter for the King George, these are not overly tempting for those wanting to take an each-way risk.
One horse that may be a viable alternative is Riverside Theatre, who has triumphed on his first start of the last three seasons and finished a worthy second behind Long Run 12 months’ ago.
But he has been off the track injured with a pelvis injury since February and trainer Nicky Henderson has indicated that he will not be fit in time to feature at Kempton.
Therefore, he is a risky proposition and so the other possible alternative looks to be Somersby.
Somersby is 12/1 in the horse racing odds to win the King George and the fact he has only won one of his last ten races in the past two years will put off many punters.
Meanwhile, some will be doubtful as to whether the horse will truly stay on his first run over 3m, but trainer Henrietta Knight believes that the distance is the optimum for her seven-year-old.
Knight won back-to-back King George’s in 2002 and 2003 with Best Mate and Edredon Bleu, but has struggled to complete her hat-trick since, with Calgary Bay perhaps considered her best hope in the intervening period until now.
Somersby should be thereabouts at the finish at Kempton as he has finished inside the first three on 16 of his 18 career starts and has 100 per cent winning record at the course from two previous appearances.
Furthermore, horses aged seven and below have the better recent King George record in comparison to their elders.
