Soft ground a must for Business

Paul Nicholls said today that See More Business would need 'very soft' ground if the horse was to attempt to win the Pertemps King George VI Chase for the third time on Boxing Day.

See More Business won Kempton`s Christmas showpiece in 1997 and 1999, but disappointed both in 1998 and last year. The 11-year-old is due to reappear in the Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow next month.

Nicholls said: 'Obviously we`ve put See More in, he`s won it twice before. He`s in good order and he`ll run in the Rehearsal Chase, but he`d want the ground very soft to run in another King George.'

The Shepton Mallet trainer has four other King George entries - Ad Hoc, and Fadalko, both belonging to champion jumps owner Sir Robert Ogden, Montifault, the ante-post favourite for the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup on Saturday week, and Exit To Wave.

Nicholls said: 'Ad Hoc would be quite interesting and I actually think he`s suited by a right-hand track. He`s due to run in the Hennessy. He`s still got a long way to go. He`s at the crossroads and has to prove he`s good enough.

'With Fadalko obviously we need to get back to form but I`ve always thought it will be quite interesting to run him over three miles on an easy track on good ground. But he`s got to come back to form and he`s a possible for the Tingle Creek in a fortnight.

'Montifault could be very interesting. We are going to see how he runs in the Hennessy, but we`ll probably be more likely to run in the Welsh National.

'Exit To Wave is a wild card entry in case the race cuts up. He`s progressing nicely but will probably end up running at Wincanton on Boxing Day.

'There are a few possibilities and hopefully we`ve covered all the options.'

Nicky Henderson`s King George options rest with Marlborough, winner of the Tote Gold Trophy Chase at Sandown on the final day of last season, and second term chaser Bacchanal.

'They`re both in good form,' Henderson confirmed. 'Neither have run yet this year, although they both went to Newbury for a gallop last week.

'Marlborough will run in the Hennessy hopefully. With Bacchanal there is a race at Sandown the following weekend which is an intermediate three-mile chase which will just be a nice start for him as he hasn`t a lot of experience and I don`t think the Hennessy would be a great idea at this stage.'