King George Chase Tips 2026: Kempton Boxing Day Preview

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By The Guv'nor · Last updated October 2026

King George Chase tips start with the basics. The 2026 King George VI Chase is on Saturday 26 December at Kempton Park, Boxing Day, a Grade 1 over three miles (4,828 metres). In the last ten runnings only 2 of 11 favourites won, six winners went off at 7/1 or bigger and Paul Nicholls trained four.

Looking for Ascot's King George in July? That's the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a Flat race. This page is the Kempton jumps race.

King George Chase tips 2026: the race, the field and the market

Here's what the race is, before we get into what wins it.

Look, it's 5 October as I write this and the field won't take shape until the autumn trials are run. What we do have are public form lines. The 2025 race was a blanket finish: The Jukebox Man won it on the nod from Banbridge, with joint-favourites Gaelic Warrior (9/4) third and Jango Baie (9/4) fourth. Three months later, on 13 March 2026, Gaelic Warrior won the Cheltenham Gold Cup as 11/4 joint-favourite, Jango Baie was second and The Jukebox Man was eighth of ten at 7/2.

That gives you the obvious pool of names, but none of them is confirmed for Kempton, and these are public results, not my King George VI Chase tips. I haven't printed an ante-post market here yet. I'd rather add the leading prices, with the date I took them, once the Betfair Chase has been run on 21 November and the plans are clearer. If you're tempted to go early, read my ante-post betting guide first, because a non-runner in this race is a lost stake unless your bookie offers non-runner no bet.

What wins at Kempton: a sharp, flat three miles

Kempton's jumps course is a right-handed triangle that is practically flat, with a short run-in. Compare that with the Gold Cup's 3m 2f 70y and the climb at Cheltenham, and you can see why the King George has a reputation as a race for a horse with a bit of speed rather than a pure stayer.

The results back that up, with one caveat. Half of the last ten winners (5 of 10) had their previous run over less than three miles:

• Banbridge (2024) came from a 2m 160y Grade 2 at Cork.
• Tornado Flyer (2021) came from the 2m 4f John Durkan at Punchestown.
• The Jukebox Man (2025) came from a 2m 5f graduation chase at Haydock.
• Hewick (2023) came from the 2m 6f Galway Plate, and Thistlecrack (2016) from a 2m 7f novice chase at Newbury.

The caveat is running style. People say Kempton is a front-runner's track, but going by the official in-running comments, six of the last ten winners raced with or close to the pace (Frodon made all in 2020), while four came from mid-division or the rear (Hewick was in the last pair and given reminders in 2023). So I wouldn't knock a horse just because it's held up. The going was officially soft only three times in the ten years (2017, 2019 and 2022); the rest were good or good to soft.

The trials: Charlie Hall, Betfair Chase (21 Nov) and the rest

The Betfair Chase at Haydock is on Saturday 21 November 2026, 35 days before Kempton, and it's billed as the big trial. Here's the thing though: only one of the last ten King George winners ran in it. The table shows where each winner had its last run, from Sporting Life's form records (they cover UK, Irish and French races, so a run abroad elsewhere wouldn't show).

Three things jump out of that. Only 4 of 10 winners won last time out. Four of the ten had their last run on the island of Ireland (Down Royal, Punchestown, Cork and Galway). And the gap between runs ranged from 18 days to 146, so there's no magic number.

The Charlie Hall at Wetherby gave us Bravemansgame in 2022, and the Down Royal Champion Chase set up Clan Des Obeaux in 2019. Check Wetherby's and Down Royal's own fixture lists for the 2026 dates. Irish runners often go via the John Durkan at Punchestown in early December (Tornado Flyer did in 2021), so it pays to let that be run before reading too much into any King George Kempton price.

King George trends that matter (with sample sizes)

I hand-compiled the last ten King Georges (2016 to 2025, N = 10 races, 80 runners) from the official results as published by Sporting Life. SP is the official starting price. Ten races is a small sample, so treat these as pointers, not rules.

Favourites have a poor record lately

Favourites won 2 of 10 races (2 winners from 11 favourites, counting 2025's joint-favourites). Both wins came in 2016 and 2017, from Thistlecrack and Might Bite in fields of five and eight. Since then it's 0 from 9, although favourites did finish in the first three in four of those eight races. If you'd put £1 on every SP favourite you'd have staked £11 and got back £4.60, a loss of £6.40. That's hindsight on a tiny sample, but it fits the race. For the bigger picture across all races, see how often favourites win.

Price, age and stable

Seven-year-olds and eight-year-olds won 9 of the 10 races. Nine-year-olds and older went 0 from 22, but 9 of them placed, so the older horses aren't useless each-way. Clan Des Obeaux was the only six-year-old winner, from six runners of that age. Irish stables won three of the last five (2021, 2023, 2024). Nicholls has had four wins from 18 runners, all between 2018 and 2022.

The prices tell the story I like best. The 4 winners from 38 runners at bigger than 10/1 included Tornado Flyer at 28/1 and Frodon at 20/1, and 13 of those 38 finished in the first three. A small sample in hindsight, sure, but it's a race where the market has been happy to get the favourite wrong.

Boxing Day and beyond: Kempton, Leopardstown and the Welsh National

The King George is the centrepiece of a packed Christmas, and the 2026 calendar has changed (the full fixture run is on my big races calendar):

• Kempton, 26-27 December: the Ladbrokes Christmas Festival. Over the two days you get the King George, the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle and the Grade 2 Desert Orchid Chase, with day two billed as Kauto Star Chase Day.
• Leopardstown, 26-29 December: four days with seven Grade 1s, including the Savills Chase on Monday 28 December. My Leopardstown Christmas Festival tips page covers it day by day.
• Chepstow, Monday 28 December: the Coral Welsh Grand National moves to Bank Holiday Monday under a new four-day Christmas programme from the BHA, ITV Racing and Entain. See my Welsh Grand National tips.

For Boxing Day racing tips in general, King George tips included, my rule is the same as any other day: a short list, not a bet in every race. Plenty of you like to tie the big Christmas cards together in multiples. If that's you, my lucky 15 tips page is where I talk about it, and Lucky 15 explained shows how the returns build up so you know what you're getting into.

How I'm approaching this year's race

If I am honest, the King George is my kind of race. I'm essentially a statistics/maths geek (I was a Quantitative Researcher at a Tier 1 investment bank), and what I care about is the price compared with the chance, not whether the horse is a big name. Plenty of King George Chase betting tips lean on the favourite, but a short-priced favourite in a race where favourites have gone 0 from 9 since 2018 has to be a proper standout before I'll touch it.

So I use the trends above as a filter, not a selection. I'm looking for the horse whose last run might have been over a shorter trip, at a track that didn't suit or in a race that didn't go its way, and whose price doesn't reflect what it could do round a flat three miles. If one of those looks overpriced, I'll consider each-way, because when outsiders place we often make more profit than an odds-on shot winning.

Staking stays the same as any other day: points, not feelings. Divide your bank into points (1pt = £5 on a £100 bank, say) and don't go all in because it's Christmas and you fancy one. If I'm unsure, I skip it. If there's smart money or stable information worth passing on, members hear about it. And as always, I'm betting on every horse I tip.

My actual King George bet goes out to Winners Club members on Boxing Day morning.

Price

Price of the service is a fixed £9.99 monthly and that will never change and you can cancel anytime if it's not for you. To break that down for you that's about 32p a day for a whole month or a going to have a McDonalds with a mate. Crazy right?

I've priced it cheap because I want it accessible to absolutely everyone and build a community of winners - If I am honest the £9.99 is just there as a filter if you like so that only serious people sign up. If the paid version isn't for you just yet, then feel free to sign up to the free service.

My promise.

Look, I can't guarantee every tip every day is going to win (anyone that can is a fraudster). But I can promise you that every horse I will tip I am betting on myself and through my data analysis techniques it should be in with a very strong chance of bolting up and winning and over a long enough period you will be profitable.

Here's what some of our paid members have been saying:

Give it a go, what have you got to lose? It's only a tenner a month. Feel free to try out the free version first!

- The Guv'nor

After the race: what it means for the Gold Cup

Everyone asks whether the King George winner can win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March. Matching the race lists for the last 20 seasons (King George 2006 to 2025 against the Gold Cups of 2007 to 2026), it's happened three times: Kauto Star twice and Long Run once. None of the last ten King George winners has done it. The Jukebox Man was the latest to try, finishing eighth in the 2026 Gold Cup, which was won by Gaelic Warrior, third at Kempton.

Why the gap? A flat three miles at Kempton and 3m 2f 70y uphill at Cheltenham are different tests, and a King George win often says more about speed than stamina. I'll update this section with what the 2026 race told us by 2 January 2027. In the meantime, my Cheltenham Gold Cup tips page covers the trials, and the wider Cheltenham Festival tips guide has the full four days.

King George Chase FAQs

When is the King George VI Chase 2026?

Saturday 26 December 2026 at Kempton Park, on day one of the Ladbrokes Christmas Festival. Kempton's festival page didn't show race times when I checked on 5 October 2026; last year's race went off at 2.30pm.

How long is the King George VI Chase?

Three miles (4,828 metres) over fences on Kempton's right-handed, practically flat jumps course.

Who won the King George last year?

The Jukebox Man, trained by Ben Pauling and ridden by Ben Jones, won the 2025 race at 7/1, beating Banbridge on the nod.

Do favourites win the King George?

Not lately. Favourites won 2 of the last 10 runnings (2016 and 2017) and none of the eight since, from nine favourites including 2025's joint-favourites.

Is the King George at Kempton or Ascot?

Both, but they're different races. The King George VI Chase is the jumps race at Kempton on Boxing Day. Ascot's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is a Flat race run in July.

More in this guide

• Big races 2026/27: the full UK and Irish calendar
• Cheltenham Gold Cup tips 2027
• Welsh Grand National tips 2026
• Leopardstown Christmas Festival tips
• Irish horse racing tips
• My premium tips