When Muhammad Ali regained the world heavyweight boxing title for a third time back in the mid-1970’s the enormity of that achievement rocked the sporting world and remains unsurpassed in that most combative of sports. If Kauto Star comes back and regains the Cheltenham Gold Cup crown for a third time next March, it will arguably be a comparable sporting achievement to that achieved by the ‘Louisville Lip’, writes Elliot Slater.

It might sound strange comparing a three-mile steeplechaser to one of the greatest human athletes of all-time, but in a sport where horses struggle to remain at the top for even a couple of seasons the prospect of seeing Kauto Star come back in 2011 to follow up his victories in the blue riband of National Hunt racing in 2007 and 2009, (he also ran second to Denman in 2008), is quite thrilling.

Already quoted as 5/1 second favourite to win at Cheltenham 2011, those odds will
surely shrink if (as expected by many), Paul Nicholls’ ten-year-old lands his fifth successive win in the Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. That achievement in itself would set Kauto Star apart from any other horse in history, (even leaving the mighty Desert Orchid toiling in his wake with ‘just’ the four wins), but the prospect of him getting his revenge on Imperial Commander and Denman and winning back the Cheltenham crown, is almost too much to contemplate without bordering on hysteria.

As a media event a Kauto star Cheltenham races win would be a huge boost for the industry, surely placing the horse on a par with Red Rum in the affections of the general public, if given sufficient media coverage. From a punting point of view it might be wise to back him for Cheltenham before Kempton, as he could be cut to as short as 3/1 favourite from 5’s if he wins in style from LongRun, Forpadydeplasterer and the rest. Let’s hope for racing’s sake, he does.