King George VI: Can Al Ferof bring Paul Nicholls more success?

Unsurprisingly, away from his own runners, Nicholls has most respect for Cue Card and Dynaste, the two that filled the first two berths in front of Silviniaco Conti at Haydock in November.

Cue Card, trained by Colin Tizzard and the mount of his jockey son Joe, has gained successes at this year’s Cheltenham Festival and then at Haydock.

But doubts in the back of the minds of the horse’s growing number of fans will revolve around a disappointing effort in the last King George and the current quiet run of the Tizzard team.

Dynaste’s jockey, Tom Scudamore, is quietly confident the David Pipe-trained runner – as it happens, also grey – can find the four-and-a-half lengths required to turn the tables on Cue Card.

Last year, Dynaste won the Kauto Star Feltham Novices Chase, staged over the King George distance and on the same card, in a particularly good time.

Meanwhile, Long Run, the mount of amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, is a two-time winner and should never be under-estimated, especially with the recent rain.

For the first time, he wears a visor to aid concentration and odds of around 12-1 could be too tempting to be ignored by each-way backers.

Throw in former runner-up in Riverside Theatre, the Peterborough Chase winner, and, from Ireland, Punchestown’s champion novice chaser Mount Benbulben, and we have a truly intriguing clash.

The appearance of Al Ferof and Dynaste apart, there’s nothing grey about this line-up.

There will be coverage of the William Hill King George VI Chase (Kempton, 26 December, 15:10 GMT) and all the other Boxing Day racing news on BBC Radio 5 live and via the BBC Sport website