King George VI Chase and more: Boxing Day racing – live
Boxing Day #BoxingDay
Good morning from sunny Sunbury-on-Thames, where a boisterous Bank Holiday crowd is assembling at Kempton Park for the King George VI Chase, one of the traditional highlights of the racing year.
Nine runners are due to go to post for the big race at 2.30, on ground that is officially soft, and there is also a big Christmas bonus for racegoers on this year’s card as Constitution Hill, the best young hurdler for several decades at least, heads a five-strong field for the Christmas Hurdle at 1.55.
The race will probably be the Constitution Hill’s final run before the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March and fans will be hoping to see something akin to his 22-length romp in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at last season’s Festival meeting, or at the very least, his hard-held 12-length defeat of Epatante – who is back in against him today – at Newcastle in November.
They will not be covering too much of the festive expenses at his likely odds of around 1-9, however, and so an intriguing and open renewal of the King George will be the focus of most punters’ thoughts.
L’Homme Presse, who won a Grade One novice chase at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, has emerged as a narrow favourite this morning ahead of Bravemansgame, who was fancied for the same race at the Festival but scratched on the day due to the rain-softened ground. You can read my big-race preview along with the other TV races here.
There has also been money, though, for another of last season’s better novices, Ahoy Senor, who is down to around 12-1, from 16-1, to give Lucinda Russell a first ever success in the race. Ahoy Senor had both L’Homme Presse and Bravemansgame a long way behind him in the Grade One Mildmay Novice Chase at Aintree in April but his jumping has let him down badly several times in the past and he will need to hold it all together in the closing stages to stand any chance of keeping them at bay again today.
Elsewhere in the field, Envoi Allen is bound to attract plenty of support to give Rachael Blackmore a first King George VI Chase, which would also mean that jumping’s most successful female jockey would join Ruby Walsh, Tony McCoy and Barry Geraghty as a winner of the Champion Hurdle, Gold Cup, Grand National and King George, having completed the set in a little less than two years.
With Hitman running for an ownership syndicate which includes Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Manchester United manager, and the ever-popular Frodon and Bryony Frost attempting to repeat their surprise success in this race two years ago, there’s something for everyone in the big-race field and the excitement will build from 12.10, when the meeting gets underway with what is generally one of the better novice hurdles in the early part of the season.
Kempton is one of eight tracks racing today, and you can follow all the action, from Wetherby to Wincanton and all points in between, here on the live blog as one of the busiest and most eagerly awaited days of the racing year unfolds.
Related: Talking Horses: L’Homme Presse set to rule in cracking King George