ONE MAN moved hallway towards emulating Desert Orchid's four King George wins when skating to a second consecutive triumph in the £100,000 feature at Kempton yesterday.

The grey lowered the three mile course record by half a second with a 12 length success over a field depleted to just five by the firm, and in places frosty, ground.

His time of 5 minutes 45.30 seconds bettered the five year old mark of Cuddy Dale as he finished clear of Grand National winner Rough Quest to give jockey Richard Dunwoody his fourth King George.

Fred Winter and Tommy Carmody both won the race in the saddle three times, but Dunwoody, twice successful on Desert Orchid, has achieved all his victories on grey horses.

Winning trainer Gordon Richards, forced to wait until January a year ago to run One Man in a rescheduled race at Sandown, was anxious to avoid a repetition this time.

But despite the track's confidence in the condition of the ground, 16 horses were pulled out during the afternoon with Paul Nicholls, trainer of See More Business describing the surface as unraceable in places".

Trying Again, Nahthen Lad and Couldn't Be Better were withdrawn from the King George with Rough Quest, despite Terry Casey's reservations, given the go ahead only after the second race was run.

But One Man made light of the conditions, jumping faultlessly to move upsides pace setter Mr Mulligan at the third last, from where he stretched into a winning lead.

Mr Mulligan's fall at the last when a clear second handed the runner up berth to Rough Quest with Barton Bank finishing nine lengths back in third and Strong Promise fourth.

"I knew I had him super fit, but I wanted to get on and get it over with and the horse has proved me right," said Richards. He has won 12 times over fences now but if he'd won the Gold Cup by half a length that would have done me.

"He will try for another two King George wins so you should see him back here next year. Desert Orchid was a better horse round here and maybe mine is much the same. It would be nice to win the Gold Cup. I need that pretty bad, but if he doesn't I might have another grey one in The Grey Monk."

Richards was never able to explain One Man's Gold Cup run, in which he walked in a tired sixth behind Imperial Call, but the grey will return to Cheltenham on January 25th for the Pillar Property Investments Chase.

"We went through him with a fine tooth comb. He just wasn't himself afterwards and I felt really sorry for him. The whole thing was a complete mystery. We all get beat but he stopped too far out that day," he added.

"But he will go back there next, month and if he doesn't win there then I don't think he will run in the Gold Cup. I have suggested the Queen Mother Champion, Chase as a possible alternative."

Mr Mulligan, who was "beginning to tire anyway" according to Tony McCoy, was none the worse for his fall while Rough Quest pulled up sound.

The ground also resulted in See More Business and Fine Thyne being pulled out of the Pertemps Recruitment Partnership Feltham Novices' Chase, the former's trainer Paul Nicholls less than happy with conditions.

The defections left Djeddah, trained in France by four time King George winner Francois Doumen, to outbattle One Man's stablemate Solomon's Dancer by a length.

Sanmartino, Khalid Abdullah's, first National Hunt runner, made an encouraging start to his new career when rallying to beat Secret, Spring in the Good Job Novices Hurdle.

. The Coral Welsh National will not be run this year, following the abandonment of today's meeting at Chepstow. Plans to switch the race to another course, as happened in 1994, have been shelved.