Tom George feels Nacarat is showing all of his old sparkle ahead of his fourth appearance in the Racing Plus Chase at Kempton on Saturday.
Winner of the race in 2009, he was narrowly denied back-to-back successes by Razor Royale and then finished a gallant third 12 months ago. His handler admitted he made a mistake by running him at Aintree in early December on unsuitably soft ground and has given the 11-year-old a break since he ran in the King George.
"He's been good since the King George. It was probably an error on my part to run him as he'd had a very hard race the time before at Aintree. We thought we might get away with it, but it came too soon and, consequently, Paddy (Brennan) said he felt a bit flat," said George.
"The ground went very soft at Aintree on the day and we thought we might just get away with it as it looked winnable, but it backfired. Because of that we've given him a nice, long break before this race, which is always a big aim for him. It looks like he's going to have his ideal ground for the first time since he won the race a few years ago - he bounces off good ground.
"Whenever he's run against the best, the likes of Kauto Star and Imperial Commander, he's always done it on ground softer than he really wants, so it's never been a fair reflection. Despite him being 11 he's never had that much racing so it's not like we've bottomed him. The signs are good and although you never can tell with horses until you run them, he's had a very good prep."
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