A TREMENDOUS edition of the Grade 1 Savills Chase could be in the offing with a number of the finest chasers in the country set to line up.

These include Kemboy who will start out the season as the highest rated chaser in Ireland. Twelve months ago it was this race that first signalled that the seven-year-old could be a chaser of stellar potential. After circling the field to strike the front with a circuit to run, Kemboy produced a front running masterclass to hand out a seven-and-a-half-length beating to Monalee.

There followed a first fence exit in the Gold Cup before Kemboy annihilated his rivals in the Betway Bowl at Aintree and his season ended in a stunning crescendo in the Coral Punchestown Gold Cup. That race will forever be remembered as the one that saw Ruby Walsh bring his amazing career to a victorious close but it also cemented Kemboy’s status as a brilliant staying chaser as he defeated his Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning stablemate Al Boum Photo by two lengths.

Comeback

One has to go back to March 2018 to find the last time that Kemboy was beaten in a completed start over fences and he is a very worthy favourite for this assignment. However, there are no shortage of dangerous opponents lying in wait and foremost among them is Presenting Percy.

During a truncated two-race campaign Pat Kelly’s charge had to settle for eighth when going off favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup last March. His comeback over an inadequate two and a half miles in the Durkan Chase was encouraging, to say the least, as he was beaten by less than three and a half lengths into third by Min. That effort suggested that the dual Cheltenham Festival winner’s ability remains firmly intact and, with regard to his Gold Cup run, any horse is entitled to a below par showing.

The benefit of that recent comeback can be expected to bring Presenting Percy forward and the step up to three miles is another notable positive. It should be remembered that on just his third last start over fences this gelding ran riot in the RSA Chase, which he won by seven lengths, and he already had Al Boum Photo beaten when that one exited at the second last.

If Presenting Percy can return to that level of form – and there are solid grounds for believing that he can – he might well lower the colours of Kemboy.

This is far from a two-horse race though and further interest is supplied by the 2017 winner Road To Respect who looked as good as ever when notching up his latest Grade 1 triumph at Down Royal last month.

Last season’s leading staying novice chaser Delta Work is another notable contestant but he can ill afford to produce the sort of ragged jumping that he did over the last half mile of the Down Royal race won by Road To Respect.

Work cut out

Earlier on the card, Apple’s Jade will be looking for a third straight win in the Grade 1 Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle. Gordon Elliott’s brilliant mare has been well short of her best this season though and she looks to have her work cut out.

This is a race that mares have quite a strong record in and if Willie Mullins opted to let Benie Des Dieux take her chance she will most likely take all the beating. She has demonstrated on a number of occasions in the past that she goes well fresh, and she showed that she was more than a match for any gelding around with a dominant victory in the Grand Course de Haies d’Auteuil (French Champion Hurdle) in May.

Easily one of the most interesting races of the day is the Ballymaloe Foods Beginners Chase where a number of quality hurdlers are among the likely contestants. These include Allaho who made such great strides in the spring to win at Grade 3 level at Clonmel before reaching the frame in top level events at Cheltenham and Punchestown. He has the potential to make into a top class staying chaser.

In the opening maiden hurdle The Bosses Oscar catches the eye after beginning his career over hurdles with a fine second to Blue Sari at Punchestown last month.