King George Racing: Early ante-post look
Undoubtedly the highlight of the Christmas racing schedule in Britain, the King George VI Chase is arguably the best race outside of the Cheltenham Festival. This year’s renewal could be particularly hot.
Willie Mullins possesses a wealth of Grade 1 three-mile chasers and will surely want to keep them apart as much as possible. Here we take an early look at the race and assess the chances of the leading hopes and some intriguing outsiders.
King George Racing: The Contenders
Il Est Francais currently heads the market and his utterly dominant display in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase over course and distance last Christmas is the reason why. He had everyone thinking ‘how’s he going to keep that up?’ with a powerful front-running effort and a repeat of that performance would give him every chance.
Fastorslow managed to get the better of Galopin Des Champs twice last term but taking him on at his beloved Leopardstown is a difficult task, which means Kempton’s showpiece could provide a very viable alternative. Martin Brassil’s gelding clearly has the ability to win here and is likely to be bang in the mix if lining up.
Fact To File is one of the most exciting prospects in training and he looked awesome as a novice chaser last term. Few horses jump and travel better than this lad and it’ll be interesting to see how far the JP McManus-owned seven-year-old can go. It was as if he joined the race at the third last when winning the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and he could be far too good for them if confirming that promise.
Arkle winner Gaelic Warrior is also prominent in the betting but it would be a surprise if he was to go back up to three miles. Fact To File easily got the better of him at Leopardstown last term and would surely confirm that form over further.
Connections of Gerri Colombe may want to avoid Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown too and whilst he has loads of ability and a big engine, he could be vulnerable to a quicker one if he was to line up here.
It’s probably quite telling that none of the horses discussed thus far are trained in Britain and it seems unlikely that the home team will come out on top this year. Paul Nicholls is the race’s winning-most trainer and 2022 winner Bravemansgame is likely to take his chance. Very ground dependent, others are preferred.
Nicholls has flirted with the idea of stepping Ginny’s Destiny up to three miles and he would be much more interesting at odds of 25/1. He travels powerfully and jumps like a stag; two attributes that will be highly suited to this test.
Dan Skelton also has a couple of entries and Cheltenham Festival winner Grey Dawning would definitely be the more interesting of the two, as Protektorat will probably not be seen to best effect until the spring. The former’s owner touted the Gold Cup as a future target after his Turners Novices’ Chase success and this would be the ideal stepping stone.
King George Racing: Ante-Post 1-2-3
– Fact To File (7/1)
– Il Est Francais (7/2)
– Ginny’s Destiny (25/1)
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