The King George is as much a part of Christmas as the Turkey and Mince pie. The festival at Kempton Park is traditionally held every Boxing day for two days and attracts massive crowds. Steeped in history the race itself was first ran in 1937 to commemorate the ascension of King George V1 and is now recognised as one of the top chase events of the year. The race is ran over a distance of 3 miles which includes 18 fences which proves very testing, but the prize money of £180,000 could make the trip worth while. It's classified as a grade 1 National hunt chase that is open to 4 year olds and above.

The list of past winners is impressive and includes the likes of Desert Orchid, Arkle, Wayward Lad, Best Mate and of course the 4 time winner Kauto Star.

Kauto Star will be running again this year and aiming for a record fifth win. He will be 2^nd favourite behind last year's winner Long Run. Kauto Star recently beat Long run in the Bet Fair Chase and the 11 year old will be up for the King George with Ruby Walsh on Board. Long Run has the amateur Jockey Sam Waley Cohen on board as per last year and is very fortunate to be riding as he was recently banned for taken the wrong course at Fakenham. The suspension only applies to Amateur race days which will not start until the 1^st of Jan.

The next two serious contenders are Master Minded and Captain Chris who are stepping up in distance. Captain Chris with Richard Johnson in the saddle could quite easily be a lot shorter odds had he not fallen going well at Exeter a while back, and if he had won that race he could have then challenged for the Peterborough Chase testing him over 2miles 4 furlongs. The fact that he is still unproven at 3miles will scare the majority of punters off. Masterminded is the stable mate of Kauto Star and is another horse untested over 3 miles but is not there to make the numbers up. He recently won the Ascot Amlin Chase (2m3f) for the second year running and has Daryl Jacob on board again.

The eight horses declared are and their best odds (as per 20^th March) are as follows.

Long Run 11/8 with Paddy Power Place Bet Now

Kauto Star  4/1 with Ladbrokes Place Bet Now

Masterminded 11/2 with William Hill Place Bet Now

Captain Chris 8/1 with Ladbrokes Place Bet Now

Somersby 14/1 with BetFred Place Bet Now

Diamond Harry 16/1 with Paddy Power Place Bet Now

Golan Way 66/1 with Victor Chandler Place Bet Now

Nacarat 50/1  with Bet 365 Place Bet Now

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