There is plenty of top-class festive fayre to look forward to in the horse racing calendar, with the week between Christmas and New Year packed solid with cracking racing action across the UK and Ireland.
Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival meeting which features multiple Grade One races, the Welsh Grand National and the Rowland Meyrick Chase are just a few of the highlights punters can look forward to; but the undoubted feature of the week goes to post on Boxing Day with the latest renewal of the famous King George VI Chase at Kempton.
Getting underway at 3.05pm, the three-mile contest is sure to serve up another Christmas cracker as some of the biggest names come together to contest this top-class event which boasts a first-prize in excess of £140,000 and the chance to join such luminaries as Cue Card, Silviniaco Conti, Kauto Star, Long Run, Kicking King, Edredon Bleu and Best Mate who have all won this race since the turn of the century.
Tip: Back Thistlecrack for the King George
Perhaps one to take out of the Betfair Chase was
THISTLECRACK (
9/1, Coral) who won this race in 2016, and Colin Tizzard’s charge made a very pleasing return at Haydock having been out for almost one year through injury.
The 2016 World Hurdle winner won his first four starts over fences, including this race when beating Cue Card prior to losing his unbeaten chase record when denied by a head behind Many Clouds in the Cotswold Chase. Oliver Sherwood’s Grand National winner sadly died soon after the race, and nothing can be taken away from the gutsy winner; Thistlecrack however was found to have sustained an injury in the heat of battle, while a relatively busy novice campaign may just have taken the edge from him.
He shaped well in this race last term following a dismal return over hurdles in the Long Distance Hurdle, beaten around six lengths having ultimately surrendered all chance of successfully defending his crown with a mistake at the second last fence.
Having now had a pipe-opener in the Betfair Chase where he posted a satisfactory comeback to finish third, he could well build on that and he remains one to be interested in. He didn’t always jump with fluency at Haydock, and he was deliberate at his fences on more than one occasion; but he showed more than enough to suggest most of his old ability remains intact, and he probably still has more to offer over fences.