Our Kaempfer gets back on track but faces a stiffer task

Our Kaempfer won the 32RED.com Handicap Chase at Kempton Park on Saturday in the hands of Sam Twiston-Davies.

But the Hull Farm handler saw the eight-year-old given a 10lb hike in the weights three days later. Our Kaempfer won very comfortably by seven lengths off a mark of 138 and was therefore raised to 148 by the handicapper on Tuesday.

Longsdon will now have to decide if he goes back into graded company as a novice or stick to handicaps but off a heavy weight.

Our Kaempfer’s fourth career win from 18 starts took Longsdon on to 39 winners for the season and he said: “Our Kaempfer has been promising to run a big race for ages and was arguably unlucky in last season’s Pertemps Final. But on Saturday he showed how good he was and won very cosily at Kempton.

“The only frustrating thing to take out of the race was that the real aim had been the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby on Boxing Day and it would have been fantastic to have won a big pot with him there. But that was not to be with him unseating his jockey early on, so notching up his second win at Kempton was almost as rewarding.

“Apart from Boxing Day, it was the first time he had run over three miles since last season and it showed with him travelling superbly the whole way round under a great ride from Sam Twiston-Davies. Apart from a little mistake at the last, he looked very impressive.”