Rex begins for Bailey at Kempton Vivat Rex will make his first start for trainer Alan Bailey in the Listed Betdaq 50% Refund First 3 Months Floodlit Stakes at Kempton on Wednesday. Bailey snapped up the Fastnet Rock colt for just 17,000 guineas at the Tattersalls Horses-In-Training Sale last Monday after he won one of his two starts for Aidan O'Brien. Hailing from the family of Classic winners Generous and Imagine, Vivat Rex won a 12-furlong Galway maiden in September, but trailed home last of 15 in the Listed Finale Stakes over the same distance at the Curragh last month. Bailey has done well with similar recruits in the past, notably King George River, who won two valuable all-weather handicaps in 2013 prior to finishing second to future Classic winner Intello in the Listed Feilden Stakes at Newmarket. Bailey said: "We have only had Vivat Rex a week but we liked him at the sales and he has settled in well. "He has done one piece of work, albeit a small one, and went well enough. "Whether he will be good enough for a race like this I don't know, but we need to get him a mark and this is the only race there is for him." Vivat Rex is one of eight runners in the mile-and-a-half event, with Mark Johnston's Fire Fighting and the Marco Botti-trained Grendisar two major contenders. Rydan and Carnevale clash again after finishing first and second in a Kempton handicap back in September, with the line-up completed by last year's Queen Alexandra Stakes winner Chiberta King, Flemish School and Real Jazz.
