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| Sumita Pawar |
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After his stable star finished lame on his seasonal reappearance at Cheltenham on Saturday, Patrick Neville is still eager to give The Real Whacker a chance to compete in the King George VI Chase.
In March, the 7YO completed a hat-trick at Prestbury Park by narrowly outpointing Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Festival. Recently, The Real Whacker returned to the Cotswolds for the Paddy Power Gold Cup and was one of the leading fancies, despite carrying top-weight of 12st.
However, after matching strides with the eventual winner Stage Star for much of the two-and-a-half-mile-journey, The Real Whacker weakened out of contention before the home turn and was eventually pulled up by Sam Twiston-Davies. It was later discovered that he had sustained an injury.
“He got a dirty overreach – he’s OK, but he was a small bit lame after it,” said Neville.
“Sam said he was travelling fierce well and then he realised something was amiss so he stopped and pulled up and looked after him.
“The vet checked him over yesterday morning, he’s fine and was on the water treadmill this morning, so we’ll roll on now for the King George.”
The Real Whacker has been given odds of 33/1 for Kempton's Boxing Day highlight. However, Neville is optimistic that he can leave his recent comeback run behind and perform at his highest level for his upcoming festive outing.
He added,“It could have been a lot worse, we knew something was amiss and Sam minded him.
“We’ve got a run into him now and we knew whatever happened he’d improve for the run. We’ve got that over and done with, so we’ll move on and get him ready for Christmas.
“He’ll be big price I’m sure, but I don’t mind.”