Waley-Cohen fells Run can improve Sam Waley-Cohen feels there is plenty more to come from Long Run, despite having already won a King George and a Cheltenham Gold Cup. Nicky Henderson's six-year-old is due to make his seasonal return in the Betfair Chase at Haydock on Saturday, for which he was one of eight top-class chasers to stand their ground. His victory in the blue riband event last season was a feel-good story for the sport as Waley-Cohen is an amateur jockey and was riding in father Robert's silks. Long Run joined Henderson after winning a Grade One in France, and it is no secret connections have given him extensive schooling over British-style fences to iron out a few kinks. But while he is two years younger than Diamond Harry, one of his rivals on Saturday, Long Run has far more experience and has had five more starts. "He's not actually that lightly raced. The French programme is quite extensive for such young horses so he has a surprising amount of mileage on the clock," Waley-Cohen jnr told racinguk.com podcast. "The way we like our horses is to try to run them through until they are 10, 11, 12. That suggests they take more time. "Ordinarily, if you had a six-year-old you'd expect it to strengthen up and if you take a look at Long Run you'd say he does look like a bigger, stronger horse." Long Run had the legendary Kauto Star back in third when winning the Gold Cup in March. He also beat Paul Nicholls' charge when he was going for a fifth straight win in the King George at Kempton. Kauto Star turns 12 on New Year's Day and will be bidding for his fourth win in the race, but Nicholls is not entertaining any talk of retirement, despite Ruby Walsh having to pull him up on his most recent outing at Punchestown in May. "He's going to love this dry forecast for the week. He's in great shape and he does look amazing and he's been working really well," said Nicholls. "I've just got a feeling he'll run a really big race. "We're looking forward to it, Clive (Smith, owner) is looking forward to it, and hopefully everyone else is." There is only one Irish entry, Robbie Hennessy's Rubi Light. Another French import, he was third in the Ryanair Chase in March and had the beating of champion chaser Sizing Europe on his seasonal debut at Gowran when he fell at the final fence. He was eventually remounted to finish third. He was due to run in a Grade One at Down Royal last weekend, but was forced to miss the race with a blood disorder. "He had his blood tested last week and it was fine," said Hennessy. "He'll do a bit of work in the morning and if he comes through that fine he'll travel over. At the moment, we are travelling. "It looks a hell of a race. Whoever wins it is likely to be favourite for the Gold Cup. "Andrew Lynch will ride him, he's done a lot of the work with him and he would have ridden him the last day but he had to ride Sizing Europe." The going looks like being perfect on Merseyside. Kirkland Tellwright, clerk of the course at Haydock, said: "We had nine millimetres of rain on Friday night and have been dry since then. "We are likely to continue with the dry weather until Wednesday, when we are expecting three millimetres of rain, and then the odd passing shower on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. "The ground is good at the moment and the probability is that it will be the same for Friday and Saturday."
