Christmas Return On The Cards For King Kicking King is unlikely to return to the fray in time to bid for a third victory in the King George VI Chase this season, although connections are hopeful he will be back on the track around the Christmas period.Tom Taaffe's 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner sustained a leg injury following his second King George success nine months later and another problem flared up when he was on the road to recovery.'I was only talking to Tom yesterday and he told me he was delighted with him,' said Kicking King's owner Conor Clarkson.'We have stepped him up a little bit in his programme to attempt to bring him back to the racecourse.'Tom reports he's now hacking out and we're on schedule, but we are realists and know it is a long road.'We're doing our best and have started out in an attempt to get him back for in and around the Christmas or January period.'We have to get him through the pre-training first and haven't put out a race programme. I would have thought we wouldn't be tilting at windmills such as King Georges as if we do come back, it would be softly, softly.'Clarkson also elaborated on his star's injury.'He had two separate problems on the one leg, although they may have been connected. It was a tendon problem, which seems to be the curse of good horses.'He had a tendon strain first time, not the worst injury in the world, but in attempting to come back he probably out strain further up his leg in an attempt to compensate,' he told At The Races.(C) PA Sport
