Ten for Nicholls as Clan Des Obeaux wins Boxing Day’s King George VI Chase at Kempton Park

The horse, part owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, battled with veteran Thistlecrack from the home turn. But a strong finish from Nicholls’ horse, ridden by Harry Cobden, saw the pair pull clear of Thistlecrack to win by a length and a half. Gold Cup winner Native River was back in third albeit a good 12 lengths adrift.

Clan des Obeaux had looked less than impressive in his last outing at the Betfair Chase at Haydock, but at only six years of age Nicholls was always confident he would get better with more experience and that confidence was well-founded with this impressive success.

Cobden only recently turned 20 and was named as Nicholls’s stable jockey this season in succession to Sam Twiston-Davies, and his decision to ride Clan Des Obeau rather than stablemate Politologue who came in fourth proved to be very astute.

Former Gold Cup winner Coneygree had shown plenty of spirit in the early stages with Might Bite also prominent and Thistlecrack keeping in touch with the leaders. But the real drama came as the 10 strong field embarked on the second circuit. Bristol De Mai parted company with Daryl Jacob and also brought down the Ruth Jefferson-trained Waiting Patiently and jockey Brian Hughes in the process.

Thistlecrack however looked strong as he took the lead but Cobden had a patient ride on Clan Des Obeaux and having bided their time for the right moment to strike the pair showed their strength when it mattered to claim a famous win.

Speaking afterwards, Nicholls said: “10 King George wins is amazing. If you look at the form he didn’t have much to make up on Thistlecrack. We’ve always believed in him a lot, as you know.

“It was a very good run at Haydock for the stage of his career and he sort of got forgotten. Some said he was not good enough, but horses progress. He was like a footballer coming from the Championship going into the Premier League that day.

“He got a little bit lost, but he stayed on and it was the basis of a good future and I think there is a lot to come from him. To win races like this means more than anything, I can tell you. He is a proper Gold Cup contender.”
Cobden said, “I’ve grown up watching the King George. I never thought I would be in a position to ride a winner in it.

“But he has improved a lot for his last run and he has done it really well in the end.

“I definitely thought he would improve. He is very lazy at home and didn’t do much from the last. I was struggling to keep up most of the way, but his jumping put him in there.”

Earlier, Verdana Blue ended the long unbeaten run of the Nicky Henderson-trained stablemate and dual champion hurdler Buveur D’Air in the Christmas Hurdle. Buveur D’Air, ridden by Barry Geraghty, went off as the favourite and looked to have recovered from a bad mistake, but Verdana Blue and Nico de Boinville never gave up and won by a short head to give Henderson an eighth win in the race.

Jockey and trainer also combined to take the day’s opener, the Novices’ Hurdle as Mister Fisher was a comfortable two and three-quarter length winner from Rouge Vif in second and favourite Thomas Darby in third.