12.145pm: Following the abandonment of Chepstow, Chelmsford will be shown live on Channel 4 alongside Kempton on Sunday. The live C4 races are: Kempton 1.25, 2.00, 2.35, 3.10 and Chelmsford 1.40, 2.15, 2.50. The first Chelmsford races is now scheduled for 12.35pm.
9.40am GMT update: Officials at Wetherby have called off both days of their Christmas fixture following flooding at the track, while the Boxing Day meeting at Limerick has also been abandoned due to a waterlogged track. And Sunday’s meeting at Chepstow has also been abandoned, with the Welsh Grand National rescheduled for 9 January.
Talking Horses
There are seasons when the field for the King George VI Chase at Kempton has an obvious headline act and several supporting roles. The 2015 King George is not one of those. Instead, like another Boxing Day staple, The Great Escape, this year’s race has an ensemble cast that includes at least half a dozen very plausible winners.
The main contenders bring a broad range of profiles to the race, too. There is the obvious form horse in Don Cossack, the winner of eight of his last nine starts and perhaps a little unfortunate not to arrive at Kempton looking for his 10th victory in a row. Vautour is the young hopeful, fresh from novice company, who could be the next big thing. Silviniaco Conti is the veteran going for a hat-trick, and Cue Card his old rival, now apparently better than ever. The plot twist with Al Ferof, third in the last two runnings of this race, is the switch in stables from Paul Nicholls to his former assistant Dan Skelton, while Smad Place is a bold grey front-runner who will try to gallop and jump the field into submission.
Their prices range from 5-2 to 18-1, but any one of the six could walk into the top enclosure on Saturday afternoon as a worthy winner. The horse that seems most likely to do so, though, is Don Cossack (nap 3.10), whose chance may be underrated by the market, even at 5-2.
There is no mystery about Don Cossack’s form or chance, and the only minor blip on his record since a Grade Three victory at Punchestown in October 2014 was his third place behind Uxizandre in the Ryanair Chase in March. Even there, he would have gone close to the winner, who was expertly ridden by Tony McCoy, had he not been stopped in his tracks two out.
Gordon Elliott’s eight-year-old took the field apart in the Grade One Melling Chase at Aintree a few weeks later, beating Cue Card by 26 lengths, and followed up in the feature event at Punchestown’s Festival meeting, where he beat Djakadam, the Gold Cup runner-up, by seven lengths with Cue Card in fourth. He has outclassed small fields on his two starts this season, but anything close to his form in the spring should be enough to win on Saturday.
Vautour, long seen by Willie Mullins as potentially the best horse he has trained, is the obvious danger, but he was not convincing on his first right-handed start over fences. Cue Card is a very solid 7-2 chance but, like Silviniaco Conti, he may not have quite enough to see off the next generation. Smad Place also has something to find on his handicap form at Newbury, so Al Ferof, who put up his best performance for some time on his debut for Dan Skelton, could be the best each-way alternative to Don Cossack at 20-1.
1.25 Kempton: A competitive novice handicap, but Bekkensfirth could not have been any more polished on his chasing debut at Leicester this month, when he jumped soundly throughout on the way to a 13-length success. Skelton’s strike-rate remains impressive and even a 10lb rise in the ratings seems unlikely to stop him.
2.00 Kempton: Colin Tizzard has strength and depth in his stable this season, with the stable stalwart Cue Card now backed up by Thistlecrack, the favourite for the World Hurdle, among others. Native River also looks ready to step up to Grade One company following his strong staying performance at Newbury last time out. Tea For Two, whose jockey Lizzie Kelly is hoping to land her first Grade One success, is the obvious danger.
2.35 Kempton: Faugheen lost his unbeaten record over hurdles behind his stable companion Nichols Canyon recently, but will be a short price to return to winning form here. The New One is his main rival on ratings, but Sam Twiston-Davies, his regular jockey, has opted to ride Old Guard, who may be the one to give the favourite most to do.
