Kempton report: Not even Father Christmas could derail the unstoppable Kicking King from making a success of the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park yesterday. But the 3 to 1 favourite had to survive a horrendous last-fence blunder before claiming the prize.

Having approached the final obstacle with a 10-length advantage, Kicking King's fluent jumping fell apart at the worst possible time as he barely lifted a leg and pitched jockey Barry Geraghty right into the fence.

Then, after performing heroics to gather up the pieces and maintain some sort of momentum aboard the winner, Geraghty had to avoid the antics of someone dressed in full Santa Claus regalia who calmly walked across the track only yards in front of him.

Despite the best efforts of Kingscliff, who stayed all the way on the run-in to get within two and a half lengths of Kicking King, the race was already won.

Azertyuiop, tackling three miles for the first time, ran a hugely creditable race to finish just a length and a quarter back in third, despite palpably failing to see out the distance.

Kicking King had taken up the running from early leader First Gold on the final circuit and injected a burst of acceleration which quickly put the majority of his rivals under pressure.

It was a performance - achieved in a fast time - which saw both the winner and runner-up harden considerably in the betting for the Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Kicking King's trainer Tom Taaffe, whose family name is already etched into this race's history books both as jockey and trainer thanks to his father Pat, said: "We won't decide about the Gold Cup until the first week in March.

"The plan was always for him to have a holiday now and that is what he will do. If it is good ground and Best Mate doesn't look unbeatable then we might just have a shot at it, but if isn't going to be right then we'll look forward to running in the Daily Telegraph Chase (over two and a half miles). I remember something that dad said after Captain Christy won this race for the first time, that when they are out in front and swing for home the noise of the crowd can just catch them unawares, and I think that might have been what happened today more than his stamina giving out."

"He got very tired going to the last," said Geraghty. "I went early, probably too early, and I should have waited longer. He missed a couple in the back straight, which I didn't really anticipate because he had jumped so well, and going down to the last he just emptied on me. I just grabbed hold of him. I was hanging on to his ears at one stage, but he was good. I gave him a smack and he went again - but then I nearly knocked down Santa Claus."

Harchibald strengthened his position at the head of the Champion Hurdle market with what was in the end an impressive victory over Rooster Booster in the Christmas Hurdle. The Noel Meade-trained five-year-old is as short as 3 to 1 from 9 to 2 with William Hill.

The Stan James Christmas Hurdle triumph - on Paul Carberry's first ride at the Sunbury course - looked unlikely at the home turn as Rooster Booster, who had stolen a march on his rivals at the start, still held an advantage of over 15 lengths.

Only between the last two flights did Carberry begin to eat into the leader's advantage significantly, but on the run-in Harchibald (8 to 11) proved much too strong and looked good value for his winning margin of a length and a half.