Trapped nerve floors the King

Tom Taaffe identified a trapped nerve as a possible reason for Kicking King's lacklustre show at Gowran last week.
The 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner impressed when runner-up behind Nickname on his return from a long injury lay-off but failed to improve on that show in the Red Mills Chase at Gowran.
Kicking King could finish only a distant third behind outsider Ballistraw in the two-and-a-half-mile event but Taaffe reports the 10-year-old to have been suffering from a minor ailment.
"On the face of it, the horse hasn't run as well as he did the previous day," he said.
"He hasn't built on it for some reason - that 'bounce factor', as they call it.
"The second run can often be a flat run and that's what he did, he ran flat on the day.
"We found a little problem behind in his back, a trapped nerve, which we only really discovered on Wednesday.
"He was moving well on Thursday morning so I'd be hopeful he will be fine.
"I'm not put out by it because it's not the first time I've had a horse run that way on his second start."
Kicking King, who also won the King George VI Chase in 2004 and 2005, is set to return to Cheltenham and is a 33-1 shot with sponsors totesport to regain his crown.
"If he shows his wellbeing between here and the Gold Cup, then it's all systems go," Taaffe said
The Big G
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