Edwardstone the favorite in the Desert Orchid Chase

Kempton, Tuesday, December 27: On the second day of the Christmas Festival at Kempton, the Desert Orchid Chase (4th race/15.30pm/100,000 pounds/3220m) takes center stage on the six-race card. Favorites are credited to Edwardstone (Tom Cannon), who has been performing consistently well for the past year and faces beatable competition here. On December 3, the Alan King-trained eight-year-old capped his career so far with victory in the Tingle Creek Chase (Group 1) over, among others, Funambule Sivola (Robert Dunne), who finished last but had previously won at Group 2 level at Newbury. For Edwardstone, Nube Negra (Harry Skelton) could become a stumbling block. The Skelton protégé won the game two years ago. Currently, he stapled the Shloer Chase (Group 2) to his banner by a superior eight lengths. Editeur Du Gite (Niall Houlihan), who was third in a Handicap Chase last time out, could be the main beneficiary of the failure of the Mean.