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Wednesday Leopardstown top racing tip: Kemboy set to lead from the front in Savills Chase

The festive feast of horse racing continues, and Tipstrr racing aficionado Steve Jones has been looking ahead to Wednesday's eagerly-awaited Grade 1 Savills Chase at Leopardstown.

The market revolves around the short-priced favourite, A Plus Tard, who is rated 180, but who is able to race on level terms with opposition rated 151-168.

However, he comes here under a cloud after pulling up as the odds-on favourite for last month's Betfair Chase at Haydock, on what was his first outing since winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, a win that is responsible for his new lofty rating.

A Plus Tard hasn't won over a bare three miles since taking this race by half a length two years ago, narrowly beating Kemboy, who comes here in seemingly better shape and looks good value to reverse that half-length defeat.

14:20 (Leopardstown) Kemboy

The pair duly re-opposed in last year's renewal of this event, this time finishing second and third (in the same order), again with less than a length between them this time.

There is clearly very little between them over this course and distance, something that isn't in any way reflected in the market.

Kemboy won this prize himself in 2018 as a six-year-old, when he took up the running before the halfway stage and was never headed thereafter, drawing right away in the closing stages to score with more than seven lengths to spare.

Kemboy just missed the frame in 2019, then came those two close encounters with A Plus Tard in the following two seasons, so Kemboy has established himself as a real race specialist over the years.

As a 10-year-old, he has found extra for the addition of cheekpieces and he is by no means past the stage of winning this race again.

The cheekpieces were especially effective on his latest run, when he finished runner-up to Envoi Allen in last month's three-mile Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal, a race in which he enjoyed himself from the front until he was overhauled on the run-in on what is a more testing track than today's.
This will be only the third time he has worn the cheekpieces over fences and, significantly, it will be the first time he has worn them at his beloved track, suggesting he will be ridden from the front again today, a potentially wise move as there are few recognised front-runners in this line-up.
If Kemboy gets into a good rhythm out in front on his favourite track, he will have every chance of winning this prize again.
The circumstances of last month's Irish Gold Cup success look set to be replicated today and his trainer, Willie Mullins, won a phenomenal six of the seven races on Tuesday's card, so another win in this event would be no surprise.
The yard's main rider, Paul Townend, partners Kemboy (on whom he has won four times) in preference to either of the other two Mullins-trained runners.

Next best : Conflated

Of the others, last year's winner, Galvin (who beat A Plus Tard and Kemboy by less than a length) finished well behind Kemboy at Down Royal after a disappointing showing last month, so a better option is Conflated, who finished third in that same race, almost 3l behind Kemboy.
Conflated is very likely to come on again for what was his seasonal debut and he won the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup here earlier in the year (the same Group 1 prize Kemboy won last year), so he is clearly a big player (though much shorter than Kemboy in the market).

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