Clan Des Obeaux vs Cyrname: The pros and cons of the leading duo ahead of the King George VI Chase

Team Clan: Hat-trick hero?

When Sam Twiston-Davies left his role as number one jockey at Paul Nicholls’ to go freelance at the start of the 2018-19 season, making way for Harry Cobden, you'd have got long odds about him winning multiple King Georges for the Ditcheat maestro over the next few years.

But here we are. Cobden couldn’t bring himself to jump off the first (and still only) horse to have beaten Altior over an obstacle, choosing Cyrname over Clan Des Obeaux 12 months ago, and had to watch as Twiston-Davies sailed off into the distance by 21 lengths on the reigning champion.

A year before that Cobden had christened his new role as Nicholls’ main man with a fabulous ride on Clan Des Obeaux in his first King George, the jockey’s confidence belying his horse’s starting price of 12/1 as the-then six-year-old saw off Thistlecrack in a Christmas cracker.

That memory wasn’t enough for Cobden to stay loyal a year on, his head turned by the monstrous improvement of Cyrname, and so the association with Twiston-Davies was born. Cobden was back on Clan Des Obeaux in the Gold Cup, where he was below par in eighth, but hasn’t ridden him since.

Twiston-Davies was aboard Clan Des Obeaux in the Betfair Chase in the heavy ground at Haydock on his only start this season, a two-length defeat to Bristol De Mai a superb effort considering his conqueror had his optimum conditions.

Cobden was at Ascot that day to ride the subsequently-retired Laurina, having seemingly already made his mind up with regards to his Boxing Day steed. A smooth-as-you-like Charlie Hall victory on Cyrname exactly three weeks previously would do that to you.

So it’s Twiston-Davies, after a quirk of fate, that could ride back-to-back King George winners for his former boss Nicholls, a man going for his 12th (twelfth) victory in the Christmas highlight, on a horse bidding to become the fourth triple winner of the race after Wayward Lad, Desert Orchid and Kauto Star.

Pros

History tells us there isn’t a top-level jumps race in existence that produces more multiple winners than the King George. You need speed, you need stamina, you have to jump and you have to be able to peak in the deep midwinter.

It’s a unique test and some horses thrive for it. On top of the three King George legends mentioned above there have been 12 other horses, including Clan Des Obeaux, who have won this race twice which is an extraordinary number for something that should be difficult to do.

With two ‘I won the King George’ T-shirts hung in his wardrobe already, Clan Des Obeaux is well on the way to joining the Kempton elite with three or more wins in the race and he’s still only eight, so we might not have even seen the best of him yet which is an ominous warning to his rivals.

Rated 173 after winning last year’s King George, perhaps he could post an even higher number if pushed to do so. Eased down last year having won the race a long way out, there’s a good chance he will pull out more even if Cyrname brings his very best form to the table.

As for the weather, it can do what it wants. Clan Des Obeaux has won his King Georges in both good to soft and soft ground conditions, so the current good to soft (good in places) with rain forecast is ideal – and tactics-wise he should be well set, too.

The reason for that is the presence of stablemate Frodon, a horse whose own chance will be enhanced if he gets to dominate from the front. He’s likely to lead here, with Cyrname and Santini not far off him, and Clan Des Obeaux can travel away in the third wave of runners before making his challenge in the straight.

Three King Georges? It could happen. He’s won his previous two on the back of just one previous start in those seasons and Nicholls has given him an identical preparation once again. He’s primed and ready to defend his title.

Cons

There is a nagging doubt that Clan Des Obeaux ran too well on his seasonal reappearance. Too well and too close to the King George – perhaps the edge has been taken off him?

Before his previous two King George victories, Clan Des Obeaux ran fourth in the Betfair Chase in 2018 and then second in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal in 2019. Both served well in setting him up perfectly for Kempton.

But this time around he ran about 10lb better than both of those seasonal reappearances when Nicholls, by his own admission, had him ‘hard fit’ for the Betfair Chase. He ran like he was in top condition, as well, looking the likely winner when looming up on the bridle two out before Bristol did what Bristol does at Haydock in November.

He had a tougher race than he usually does before Kempton, there is no doubt about that, and while it might not matter, it is something different to consider and especially so when his main market rival had a much more serene preparation in slightly calmer waters earlier in the campaign.

Also, if Cyrname does arrive at Kempton at his very best, it will be Clan Des Obeaux’s toughest test in the King George thus far.

Two years ago the favourite, Might Bite, bled from the nose when fluffing his lines, while Waiting Patiently unseated Brian Hughes after being hampered and Politologue didn’t stay. Yes, he beat Thistlecrack, but that horse was rising 11 and had plenty to prove at the time, so it turned out not to be the deepest of races.

And then last year, for all that he was deeply impressive, the race did fall into his lap somewhat after Lostintranslation pulled up with a breathing problem and Cyrname ran below par following his Ascot battle with Altior a month previously.

This all might feel like clutching at straws, saying he ran too well at Haydock and then picking apart the form of his previous King Georges. But at 15/8 for the three-peat I think they are valid concerns, especially if Cyrname turns up with his A-game this time…

Team Cyrname: Day of destiny?

So why has Harry Cobden chosen Cyrname again, a year on from witnessing the ever-decreasing image of Clan Des Obeaux fading away up the Kempton straight?

Who better to ask than the man himself, who revealed all in an interview for us with Oli Bell which you can view in its entirety on Christmas Day.

“If Cyrname turns up at his absolute best he’s probably the best horse in the country,” Cobden said.

“No horse would give you a feel like him. He can stand off and still get to the other side as far as he stands off, he’s an unbelievable horse. I’m sure if the real Cyrname turns up he’ll take a lot of beating.

“The way I look at it is, which one would I be more annoyed of getting off? And I’d be more annoyed of getting off Cyrname to ride Clan Des Obeaux and Cyrname beat me. If Cyrname beat me I’d be pretty gutted.”

This is the crux of the argument for Cyrname. At his best he’s a better horse. Officially he’s rated 5lb Clan Des Obeaux’s superior after those two stunning wins over 2m5f at Ascot, firstly in Grade One company where he beat Waiting Patiently 17 lengths and secondly when he beat Altior in the Grade 2 Christy 1965 Chase, both in 2019.

He didn’t have to be at that level to win the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on his reappearance this season, but he did have to race over three miles and he did win with the handbrake on.

At the moment Cyrname is best known as the only horse to have beaten Altior over a hurdle or a fence. That was in a Grade 2, and while he does have one top-level success to his name, he needs to win one of the crown jewels to cement his legacy. The King George offers him the best opportunity.

Pros

Star quality. The highest-rated steeplechaser in training, Cyrname improved beyond all recognition in the early part of 2019 when he won twice at Ascot by a combined margin of 38 lengths after Nicholls took the hood off.

The first one was in a handicap off a mark of 150, the second in Grade 1 company. Both times his athletic jumping and fierce galloping were just too much for his rivals to live with and over 2m5f around Ascot he looked unbeatable.

In the November of 2019 he proved as much. After 280 days off the track, following wind surgery, he blew away Altior with another power-packed performance from the front, going some way to proving he was worth an official rating that was now nudging 180.

That effort took its toll. Beaten in the King George at 5/4 a month later, even another two months off the track failed to reignite the spark as he toiled back at his beloved Ascot in February, a tired fall at the last when beaten underlining his sudden fall from grace.

Finding the key to such a project is one that Nicholls relishes, though, and he brought him back from 259 days off the track over three miles at left-handed Wetherby in a bid to answer a couple of vital questions in one hit.

Looking more tractable and straightforward than he ever has, Cyrname sauntered to Charlie Hall success on the bridle, with even a whiff of Kauto Star about him the first time that superstar horse announced himself as a staying chaser in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

Crucially, he didn’t have a hard race and it came two months before his King George assignment. Clearly, he goes to Kempton in much better shape than this time last year, safe in the knowledge that he stays the trip, with the tables possibly turning with stablemate Clan Des Obeaux when it comes to which of the pair has had the most ideal preparation this time around.

Cons

Yes, he stayed three miles at Wetherby when he didn’t even have to click into third gear, but he won’t find things so easy in a can’t-catch-your-breath King George, will he?

The King George can turn into a real test of stamina and the idea that he could be seen off by stronger stayers like Clan Des Obeaux and even Santini hasn’t gone away despite his Charlie Hall win.

Perhaps he could do with the rain staying away over this trip, as those two Ascot victories in early 2019 came on good to soft ground and anything that helps reduce the test of stamina, however slightly, could well aid his chance.

Tactically he could be vulnerable, too, if Frodon gets his own way out in front.

We saw in his victories at Ascot that he loves to be on the front end, galloping and jumping his rivals into submission, and it seems unlikely he’ll be able to dominate this King George in that fashion.

And then there’s last year’s King George. What if that defeat wasn’t because he was jaded by beating Altior a month previously? What if he just couldn’t last the pace over three miles at Kempton?

These are the questions Cyrname will have to answer on Boxing Day. A horse that is making a habit of answering some tough posers – the Altior question, the left-handed question, the staying three miles question – will have to stand up to the non-believers once again.

If he does fall short, it will likely be his ability, or lack of, to last the pace over three miles that comes under the microscope once again.