Glorious Conti and Long Run to Regain?

On #BST I dotted out some reasons for saying:

"liking Conti in the Betfair. Hope he's man enough to see it through
but getting a (surprising) stonk on for Long Run in the KG, the race I think he's best suited to.
around 16/1 for the double, will be having a good go at it" 

So is a payday looming? 

Silviniaco Conti was breathtaking in the Rising Stars chase at Wincanton last season. For sure he beat little but it was straight out of the "way he did it" basket. Rhythm, attacking, athletic. It appears (now) he ran into a bit of a one-off in the Feltham whilst still having the eventual RSA winner behind. He was perhaps undone by mental inexperience as much as anything, still running the winner down at the end of the contest. In the Betfair Chase he was all man: rhythm from the front, attacking out of deep ground, athletic - bar the last - in clearing his fences. Quite a few have ante-post vouchers for the King George, where he won't be going, and the Gold Cup where he almost certainly will be. The potential lack of a prep run is quite off-putting for March though.

And what of Long Run?

Vanquished again but predictably so: (from BST) My view atm is that he is a top class one-paced grinder and that that reveals itself around Kempton better than any other track.

I really like Conti for the Betfair but whatever he does I remember NJH saying last year they thought they got into a war with Kauto and it left a bit of a mark on LR for the KG - he's got the ability to take a Betfair slog down but my guess is they will take it as it comes and an easier race is preferred (which could still mean a win) to preserve an all-out attempt at Kempton, home of his best runs.

With Kauto retired I'd say LR is boss man at Kempton and just hanging around for the afterparty at HQ.

Henderson's comments were crucial in that they indicated a keen fear of a hard race in bad ground first up. So it proved. However, he appeared to look quite striking in his appearance - more of "a man" as owner and trainer had indicated in pre-season. He moved through the race pretty well and his placing was never threatened, at least only by himself with his usual now-and-then leaps out of the Goat-On-Acid playbook. That's just him though. A lot of his jumping is really good.

Why Kempton? If he's one-paced then a speedy three miles flat tracking won't help him? Everyone has their view and mine is that the King George is a brutal test of high-class stamina. There are no breathers. It may have been Ruby Walsh - I can't remember - who once likened going round the track in a King George as being on roller-skates: almost continually turning with no rest. Once turned, it's jumping, jumping, galloping and turning again. Kauto Star was most likely so brilliant there because he was just so brilliant. Top-end Grade 1 class with stamina is unbeatable. Long Run has only lost around Kempton to Kauto Star. A (soft) Feltham destruction; his King George win, comfortably, by 12L from the future Ryanair winner; and last year's desperate late lunge at one of the Greatest ever: that is some achievement what with winning a Gold Cup too.

Not many horses can cope with the demands of a King George to an extent where they are actually in a race proper turning for home: nearly all are left behind by the one or two with elite G1 class and the stamina to sustain that gallop on a course where no let-up is allowed. To have to keep finding like that hurts a lesser animal in their bones and they wilt. Long Run won't wilt at Kempton. Can any of his rivals do his level of grind?