King has a strong team

Alan King has nominated the Newbury-bound Chocala as the best of his juvenile team this season.

The junior division is usually one of the most profitable for King, who has trained a couple of Triumph Hurdle winners and landed the Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices' Hurdle at Aintree four times, including for the last two years.

Chocala reached a rating above 80 on the Flat and won a two-mile handicap at Chester in September.

With interest in capable staying Flat performers at a huge level, from Australia as well as from wealthy jumps owners in Britain and Ireland, King is relieved this gelding is one he brought through from the Flat himself.

"He runs a week on Friday at the Hennessy meeting," said the trainer. "He's been with us all the way through and if I've got a Triumph Hurdle horse this year then I think it's him.

"You can't buy them if you want them, the prices have gone through the roof."

King had arrested a fairly quiet 2012-13 season with a terrific showing at the big spring meetings through Medinas winning at Cheltenham, L'Unique at Aintree and Godsmejudge the Scottish National.

A reason identified for the swing in results was changing the forage of his horses, and the new campaign has started well, too.

"I think we've got the best bunch of chasers we've had for a long time," said King, pointing mainly to his strong novice hand.

"Balder Succes will go to the Henry VIII at Sandown, and Manyriverstocross might go to the Hennessy meeting.

"Raya Star (second at Cheltenham on Sunday) will step up to two and a half miles now. Valdez might go to Exeter and we'll find Smad Place something in the middle of December, as he had a couple of quick races."

Luckily for King, given the possibility some of those could eventually end up in the same races, he has two top jockeys to choose from.

Robert Thornton, the long-standing stable number one, has increased competition from Wayne Hutchinson and they shared the rides at last weekend's Open meeting.

"We're in a position now that the owners and I decide who rides what. If one particularly wants Wayne, that's fine," he said.

"Most Saturdays they are going to be at different meetings anyway, it just happened last weekend I didn't need them anywhere else so they were both at Cheltenham."

The squad of novice hurdlers is to be given a serious pick-me-up later this week with the arrival of two more Group-class Flat horses.

Ebor winner Tiger Cliff and the Group-placed First Mohican have been switched from the Cecil stable to go jumping by owner Henry Ponsonby.

"They are out at the Kingwood Stud having a break at the moment, but they come here on Wednesday," King said. "They'll be running after Christmas. It's exciting."

Godsmejudge, an Aintree prospect, was beaten just over four lengths on his first start of the season in the Grade Three staying handicap at Cheltenham on Saturday.

"I was very pleased, and he has always needed his first run," King said. "He'll go to Sandown on Henry VIII day and then he'll go to Warwick. The Grand National is the plan, but I'm not going to wrap him up just for that."

Meanwhile King will continue the Hennessy Gold Cup preparations of Invictus with a racecourse gallop at Newbury this week but believes his charge offers no value in the ante-post betting.

The 7/1 favourite fits the bill in terms of profile, as a lightly-raced and smart novice who collected on three of his four starts over fences and beat no less a horse than Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth in the Reynoldstown at Ascot, with Silviniaco Conti back in fourth.

That race, in February of last year, was the last time Invictus competed in public as he suffered a tendon injury when being prepared for the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

"He's an absurd price at the moment," said King after watching the seven-year-old lead Wild Blue Yonder and The Pirate's Queen in a routine canter up his Barbury Castle gallop.

"Whatever he does at Newbury, he is going to improve, but the handicapper has dropped him down to 145 and we'll do as much as we can with him.

"I wanted to get a run into him first, but there hasn't been time. If he was to have a run, it would have needed to be a month before.

"He's done all his work at home, he's been away once and he'll go away again to Newbury this week."

Invictus also struck over fences at Plumpton and Hereford and was third to Champion Court in the Dipper at Cheltenham, but it was his Ascot effort that has looked most notable.

"Everyone keeps saying the other two didn't perform, but we'll find that out on the day," said King.

"He was progressive all season. It was bad enough (the injury), but it was just time off.

"He's been back in all summer and has been in training for some time. He's not a stuffy horse, but with all that time off they can get fat inside.

"He's a far more relaxed horse now, and we'll just see how he gets on, get the first race out of the way. There will be a lot of improvement in him."

King believes the Nicky Henderson-trained Hadrian's Approach, who belongs to Invictus' owner Richard Kelvin Hughes, is also heading to the Hennessy a week on Saturday, but stablemates Walkon and Godsmejudge are not likely to take up their entries.

The Barbury Castle trainer expects to have six or seven runners over the three-day Hennessy Heritage Festival.

"Medinas goes for the bet365 Long Distance Hurdle on the Saturday and we also plan to run The Pirate's Queen in the new mares' race."

"We've got Wilde Blue Yonder for the novices' hurdle on the Thursday and Chocala in the juvenile novices' hurdle on the Friday."

Clerk of the course at The Racecourse Newbury, Richard Osgood, gave the current going conditions as good-to-soft on the chase course and soft, good-to-soft in places on the hurdles course.