Best Mate to miss the King George Best Mate is to bypass the Pertemps King George VI Chase on Boxing Day and will run instead in the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday. Trainer Henrietta Knight made the announcement to this afternoon after discussions with owner Jim Lewis. 'Best Mate goes to Ireland to get the easier ground,' said Miss Knight. 'I think it might be too quick for him at Kempton and at the end of it all, it is the best interests of the horse we have at heart. We are trying to get him ready for a third Gold Cup in March.' 'Best Mate does not need to go over to Ireland until the day before,' added Miss Knight, who already had the eight-year-old´s place on the ferry booked just in case the decision was taken to run him at Leopardstown. It means he will take on last year´s Ericsson winner Beef Or Salmon. The pair clashed in last season´s Gold Cup, when the Irish horse fell at the third fence. Another possible contender is Keen Leader, an impressive winner of the Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock recently. 'Best Mate is in very good shape,' added the Wantage trainer. 'Jim Lewis and I had a good talk and thrashed it all out today. 'We haven´t gone against anything we´ve said, because we always said we would make a decision and let everybody know.' Best Mate had been quoted at 6-4 with a run for the King George on Friday. Connections will be represented in the Kempton feature by the 2000 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Edredon Bleu, who finished sixth to First Gold in the three-mile contest three years ago.
