Sprinter Sacre back for Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton

Sprinter Sacre will be aiming to extend his 10-race unbeaten record over fences in the Grade Two Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton on Friday.

It will be a return to action for the seven-year-old jump racing star after missing the Tingle Creek Chase through injury earlier this month.

"It's his first run of the year and on soft ground, so it's going to be tough," said trainer Nicky Henderson.

"He's in good form so we will have to see what happens."

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"If we can't get close to him tomorrow we never will"

Sire De Grugy trainer Gary Moore

Jockey Barry Geraghty said in his At the Races blog  that Sprinter Sacre was "flying" in the build up to the race which gets underway at 14:30 GMT.

"Although I hardly ever ride him at home - that's Nico De Boinville's privilege - I can assure you that he's flying because I worked up behind him recently and all I saw was him disappearing into the distance," said Geraghty.

Tingle Creek Chase winner Sire De Grugy, the mount of Jamie Moore for his trainer father Gary, looks set to provide the main opposition.

Moore senior explained why he decided to take on Sprinter Sacre in this race after originally wanting to sidestep Kempton if Henderson's star was in the line-up.

"The simple reason we're running is he galloped well last Saturday and his scope was good," said the West Sussex trainer.

"He seems pretty well, he's going to get his ground, this is the track he ran his best hurdle race on and the fences on this track should be fine for him.

"The problem is we're taking on Sprinter Sacre. We'll have to see if we can get to him. If we can't get close to him tomorrow we never will, as far as I'm concerned. We'll have to see how we go."

Fago, Oiseau De Nuit, Astracad and Tataniano complete the line-up of six runners.