KID KAN DOO FOR NICHOLLS

Paul Jacobs casts a close eye over leading picks for this month's big races

- Paul Jacobs

I always think that the final month of the year is the equivalent to moving day in the world of golf (the third round) when there are any number of questions answered on the National Hunt front.

There is, of course, the big Bar One racing day at Fairyhouse on the first day of the month, but entries for the two Grade 1 events would merely be guesswork for the Drinmore and the Hatton's Grace so I shall leave them well alone which means that the King George VI Chase and Welsh National are the main themes for the column and to a lesser extent you can add to the mix the Becher Chase at Aintree on December 7.

Over the Grand National fences at the Liverpool track it will be interesting to see if Grand Sefton hero King Turgeon tries to double up over this longer trip after taking to the set-up magnificently at the beginning of November.

An 8lb penalty is fair enough after the way he galloped his rivals into the ground. The one slight negative is that it was hardly the strongest of renewals and he seemed to have a fairly easy time at the head of affairs.

In behind that day, some 13.25 lengths back in fifth, was Sure Touch,but he has not been entered up in this three and a quarter mile event, but is worth keeping an eye on as Olly Murphy has the National itself as a long-term aim.

So, despite being an 8yo KANDOO KID has always struck me as a likely sort for this race ever since I saw him run down Frero Banbou in the Class 2 Coral Racing Club Handicap Chase at Newbury off a mark of 129.

That success saw the handicapper over-react in my view first going up to 136 and then after a second in the Grade 2 Howden Noel at Aintree he was again reassessed to 141.