Barry Geraghty steps in to ride Footpad as seven remain bound for King George

Barry Geraghty has been called up for the ride on Footpad in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase on Thursday as seven horses remained engaged in the Grade 1 at Friday's confirmation stage.

Geraghty, who partnered Kicking King to back-to-back King George successes in 2004 and 2005, takes the place of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede's injured retained rider Daryl Jacob on the seven-year-old.

Writing in his Racing Post column, trainer Willie Mullins said: "With Daryl Jacob out of action we've booked Barry Geraghty for Footpad in the King George at Kempton on Thursday.

Footpad: the sole Irish contender in the King GeorgeCredit: Caroline Norris

"Barry has ridden big race winners for us in the past - Florida Pearl and Alexander Banquet are two that spring to mind - and in more recent years he has ridden some of the horses we train for JP McManus.

"We're glad that he's available and, hopefully, all will go well. Footpad is in good form and we're happy with him and looking forward to the race."

Footpad is a general 9-1 shot for the King George, but bookmakers are divided over the market leader for the Kempton contest after leading duo Cyrname and Lostintranslation featured among the likely runners.

King George confirmations

While some firms, including sponsors Ladbrokes, can't split the pair, the majority have Cyrname as favourite, with only Coral – who sponsor the Colin Tizzard yard – going against the grain with Lostintranslation heading their list.

The market ripples came after the latest entry stage for Thursday's Christmas showpiece at Kempton, for which reigning champion Clan Des Obeaux also went forward with Thistlecrack, La Bague Au Roi and Aso.

Altior, as expected, was taken out, while connections of Native River decided against supplementing the 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.

Coral cut Lostintranslation to clear favourite into 13-8 (from 7-4) and also trimmed Clan Des Obeaux to 10-3 (from 7-2).

"It's going to be King George low on quantity but extremely high on quality, and right now it is the £1 million-chasing Lostintranslation who is winning the battle to start favourite on Boxing Day, with Clan Des Obeaux also attracting support as he bids for back-to-back wins in the race," said firm spokesman David Stevens.

King George confirmations

1 Aso (Venetia Williams)
2 Clan Des Obeaux (Paul Nicholls)
3 Cyrname (Paul Nicholls)
4 Footpad (Willie Mullins)
5 Lostintranslation (Colin Tizzard)
6 Thistlecrack (Colin Tizzard)
7 La Bague Au Roi (Warren Greatrex)

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