The ground conditions are likely to be desperate at Haydock Park for tomorrow's prestigious Betfair Chase - and that's a good thing if you are a punter who puts faith in proven class over promise.

Very soft ground means dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kauto Star (2.55pm) will be a bigger price than he should be for the Grade One chase.

The Paul Nicholls-trained nine-year-old faces eight rivals in the three-mile event, worth £112,600 to the winner.

But none of them matches owner Clive Smith's gelding for talent.

The three-times King George VI Chase hero has won this race twice before (in 2006 and 2007) and was unfortunate not to win it again last year when unseating Sam Thomas at the last.

Connections couldn't be happier with him, either.

Smith said: "Kauto Star is in very good form at the moment and Paul and myself are very happy with his preparation for the Betfair Chase.

"We had the option of going for the Down Royal Champion Chase but we believed that returning to Haydock Park was the right thing to do and it was only a question of keeping an eye on the weather and the ground.

"This will be the first time that he will be going into the race as a fresh horse. He has run at Aintree and Down Royal the previous two seasons but we wanted to limit him to three appearances this year.

"He will start off in the Betfair Chase and then, hopefully, go back to Kempton and Cheltenham - although we have to get through each race at a time. "I'm not worried about returning to Haydock Park after last year. He has won the race twice before and it was just a series of events that didn't work out last season - it's possible that his run at Down Royal may have taken the edge off him. I think that he is going to be all right this year and I am very happy with him.

"He's nine now and has had a few races but he is a remarkable horse. People have always talked about French horses starting too young and, therefore, their careers end earlier than other horses but Kauto Star seems in great shape. He just seems to want to go on racing and he is certainly still thoroughly enjoying himself."

Tom Scudamore, who rides Hennessy Gold Cup winner Madison Du Berlais, told Evening Standard readers earlier this week that Kauto Star will be at his most vulnerable on his first start of the season but the great horse's form figures on his opening bow are impressive, with him winning three times in the last five years.

The fact remains that Timeform experts rate Kauto Star 14lb better than his main rival Madison Du Berlais, who is trained by Martin Pipe.

If Kauto Star turns up in the same form that he did when winning this race by 17 lengths in 2006, or when trouncing his brilliant stable companion Denman by 13 lengths in the Gold Cup in March, then the rest will be simply fighting for place money.

Punchestown Gold Cup winner Notre Pere is a relentless galloper and a mudlark but at 2-1 he looks too short in the betting for what he has achieved.

Halcon Genelardais, winner of the 2006 Welsh National at Chepstow on soft ground, has been cut from 20-1 to 14-1, but trainer Alan King has admitted: "I don't envisage winning the race, I'm just hoping for a place."

Madison Du Berlais is unlikely to be out of the first three and rates as a good each-way bet - but take the Star to shine once more.