Pauling confident The Jukebox Man can play King George role

Ben Pauling insists he would not swap The Jukebox Man for any of his King George VI Chase rivals following his “electric” comeback victory at Haydock on Saturday.

Having been off the track since winning the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase over the King George course and distance last Christmas, the seven-year-old enjoyed a near foot-perfect return to action in a graduation chase on Merseyside, producing a dominant front-running display in the hands of Ben Jones.

Pauling reports his stable star to be none the worse for his exertions and while the Willie Mullins-trained Gaelic Warrior is now a hot favourite for Kempton’s Boxing Day showpiece after denying stablemate Fact To File in a thrilling John Durkan at Punchestown on Sunday, the Naunton handler is happy to take him on.

“The Jukebox Man seems all right, I’m very happy with him, which is great as it was obviously his first run for a little while,” said Pauling.

“It’s a positive report in that he’s in good order and we’ll have to see how we get on in a month’s time. That looked quite a good race in Ireland today and it’s definitely not going to be easy, but at least we’ve got a horse we think is good enough to line up and with the wind behind us, hopefully we’ll be there turning in and we can see where we are.

“He’s an exciting horse who has never really had to be extended to win over fences and I wouldn’t swap him for any (King George contender) at the moment. Willie obviously has a strong hand with Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File and whether they both come to Kempton, who knows?

“It was a good performance from Gaelic Warrior, to go that sort of gallop and fight back at the end was quite amazing. Fact To File had a proper job on to even get in touch with him, so I thought it was a very good performance from both of them and it’s going to be a very exciting King George if everyone turns up.”

When asked if The Jukebox Man had exceeded his expectations at Haydock, the trainer added: “Definitely. That (performance) was ridiculous, with how fit he was, it really was quite incredible.

“I was just delighted to see the way he jumped and travelled. I don’t think they went overly quick, but he didn’t miss a beat with his jumping – his jumping was equally as electric and accurate as it was last season – and that is what you need to see because after having an injury, you need to make sure that they’re still in the mindset.

“I can’t emphasise enough, although I tried to explain it beforehand, how much he will come on for the race and it was sort of the perfect trial for me because he hasn’t had to go to the well to win it. It was the perfect prep run for fitness and everything in order to go to Kempton with our confidence high.”