Murphy is hoping King will show he can go the distance

Kalahari King will use Saturday's Victor Chandler Chase as a tune-up for the Ryanair Chase, his intended Cheltenham Festival target.

Trainer Ferdy Murphy insists that the time is right for the top two-mile chaser to step up in trip but feels the 10-year-old has little chance of beating former champion Master Minded in Ascot's 2m 1f Grade 1 feature.

Kalahari King finished third to Big Zeb in the Champion Chase last season but was well beaten by Master Minded in the rescheduled Tingle Creek Chase at Cheltenham in December.

"Having seen Kauto Star get beaten at the weekend, I regret not running him in the [three mile] King George VI Chase," said Murphy. "To be fair, although the plan was to run him over further this season, Kalahari King had a speculative entry and we wouldn't have run him on that heavy ground.

"Although we're not even dreaming of beating Master Minded at level weights, he does run at Ascot on Saturday and we'd be hopeful that the ground will be better there than is was at Kempton.

"We've got him entered for the Ryanair Chase [2m 5f] rather than the Champion Chase. He's won over two-and-a-half miles over hurdles and fences but he's getting on now and we want to win a nice prize with him."