Best Mate heads for Ireland instead of King George

Trainer Henrietta Knight made the announcement yesterday after discussions with owner Jim Lewis.

''Best Mate goes to Ireland to get the easier ground,'' said Miss Knight.

''I think it might be too quick for him at Kempton and it is the best interests of the horse we have at heart. We are trying to get him ready for a third Gold Cup in March.

''Best Mate does not need to go over to Ireland until the day before,'' added Miss Knight, who already had the eight-year-old's place on the ferry booked just in case the decision was taken to run him at Leopardstown.

It means he will take on last year's Ericsson winner Beef Or Salmon. The pair clashed in last season's Gold Cup, when the Irish horse fell at the third fence.

Another possible contender is Keen Leader, an impressive winner of the Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock recently.

''Best Mate is in very good shape,'' added the Wantage trainer.

''Jim Lewis and I had a good talk and thrashed it all out. We always said we would make a decision and let everybody know.''

Best Mate had been quoted at 6-4 with a run for the King George on Friday.

Connections will be represented in the Kempton feature by the 2000 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Edredon Bleu, who finished sixth to First Gold in the three-mile contest three years ago.

* Len Lungo and Tony Dobbin yesterday won their appeals against the decision by the Wetherby stewards to punish them over the running and riding of Mirjan.

Lungo had been fined £1,000, Dobbin suspended for six days and the horse prevented from running for 30 days following the Skybet 'In Running' On All Premiership Games Handicap Hurdle on December 6.

All the punishments have been quashed.

Mirjan was due to have been ridden by conditional Bruce Gibson at Wetherby, but the jockey sustained bruising in a fall.

Dobbin deputised and the gelding finished ninth, 28 lengths behind the Mary Reveley-trained winner Konker. He was suspended for not ensuring the horse had the opportunity to obtain the best possible placing.

The panel yesterday heard evidence from Dobbin and Lungo, who were legally represented, and also viewed video recordings of the race.

They accepted Dobbin's explanation of the way he rode the gelding when passed by most of the field down the back straight.

They therefore also found Lungo not to be in breach of the rules governing instructions given to the jockey.

Immediately after the inquiry at the track, Lungo had said: ''The horse had not run for seven months and he blew up going down the back.

''Tony then gave him a couple of slaps then rode him out all the way to the line. It does not matter how he was ridden, he would not have finished a length closer.''

Lungo was pleased they had been exonerated.

''We had a good hearing. You could see that Tony had done everything possible,'' said the Carrutherstown trainer.

''The horse had been in training since the end of July, just waiting for the ground to come safe.

''They found that in this instance we hadn't a case to answer, and they were happy with the explanation, which was fair enough.

''I didn't have to pay the £1,000 fine, but the wife has spent two grand shopping, so I've still got a double penalty!''

* Kempton clerk of the course Brian Clifford believes the going will not be a problem on Boxing Day.

''I would predict it will be on the slow side of good,'' he said.

''The going is good at the moment, with TurfTrax showing 8.1 on the chase course and 8.5 on the hurdle course.

''We are forecast 5mm of rain to pass through quickly tomorrow morning and then it is said to be dry afterwards.

''We are set for a dry Christmas Day, with a quick front coming through Boxing Day morning, which will give us a couple of millimetres, though the forecasters are a bit unsure about that at present. Temperatures are looking mild.''

Officials at Uttoxeter believe the Boxing Day fixture will survive even though the course is currently frozen.

Before temperatures dropped on Sunday night, the going was described as soft, heavy in places, on the chase course and soft, good to soft in places, on the hurdles course.

Group general manager Charlie Moore said freezing temperatures had been followed by a driving northerly wind, bringing with it a wind chill of minus five degrees.

The course had been ''saturated'' on Saturday.

However, temperatures are expected to rise today.

l Colin Tinkler is relishing his return to the British training ranks from Spain and saddled his fourth winner since when Dr Cerullo landed the first division of the Littlewoods Bet Direct Maiden Stakes at Wolverhampton yesterday.

With the turf programmes at Fakenham and Fontwell falling foul of the cold snap, the all-weather meeting at Dunstall Park was the only surviving fixture of the day.

Dr Cerullo started 7-4 favourite, and having travelled well for Dane O'Neill from the outset, he was seriously threatened on the home turn, but he really stretched out in the last furlong and a half to draw six lengths clear of Unintentional.

Tinkler, formerly a successful jump jockey and trainer on the domestic front, has more recently held a licence in Spain, and was adding a first Flat success to three winners under National Hunt rules since he set up shop at Compton, near Newbury, five weeks ago.

He said: ''I was training at Mijas for a couple of years and we had 30 winners. That wasn't bad considering they only race once a week, sometimes twice.

''I enjoyed every minute of it and Spain is a lovely place, but out of the blue I got a call from George Ward offering me a job training for him. I jumped at the chance, which came at the right time really, and things are going well and the horses are running well.

''I am training in the main for George. He owns 30 of the 45 horses we have in the yard, and the rest are owned by friends of his, but we have 60 boxes and we can take on other owners.''

Of Dr Cerullo, he added: ''I thought he would run well. He did not like the kick-back at Southwell last time and this longer trip today suited him. The further the better.''

O'Neill, who has been riding at the top of his form all year and reached a century for the first time last month, completed a double when Ronnie From Donny kept up his Hartlepool owner Keith Middleton's fine run of success in the betdirect.co.uk Handicap.

Winning trainer, Malton-based Brian Ellison said: ''Ronnie has been gelded and has taken his time to come back. He ran over six furlongs two runs ago and then we dropped him back to five last time.

''But after that Dane said we ought to have gone up in trip rather than back, so we put him over seven today and that has suited him.''

It was not all wine and roses for O'Neill, however, as he picked up a three-day suspension (January 2,3 and 4) for using his whip with excessive force.

Jason Tate was handed a two-day ban (Jan 2 and 3) for a similar offence when getting Dai Burchell's Adalpour home in front in the first division of the Seasons Greetings From Bet Direct Handicap.

Ian Mongan, long odds-on favourite to be all-weather leading rider this season, completed a double on Stuart Kittow's Only Sue in the second division of that race.

He had earlier struck on Jonathan Jay's Bill Bennett in division two of the Littlewoods Bet Direct Maiden.

Ian Semple heaved a sigh of relief when the well-backed Hiawatha added a first success in Britain to one at Down Royal (when with Kevin Prendergast) in the Bet Direct Claiming Stakes.

Semple said: ''We had not had a winner for a month, but it seemed forever. Hiawatha saw far too much daylight last time. He needs to come as late as possible and Neil (Callan) carried out his instructions to the letter.''

He went on: ''I said at the start of the season I would be happy with 20 winners, but that is 32, only two short of our total for last year.

''We have been buying some hopefully nice horses and we will start with 40 next season, more than we have ever had.''