King George VI Chase meeting: horse racing – live updates from Kempton Park

Good morning from Kempton Park, where a boisterous post-Christmas crowd is assembling for one of the most traditional afternoons at the track in the racing calendar.

A select field of six, all but one of which will go to post with a very plausible chance, will contest the King George VI Chase at 2.30, with the winner joining a list that includes many – indeed, most - of the greatest names in jump racing over the last 60 years.

It was the scene of one of Arkle’s most memorable victories in 1965, and also his final race a year later (of which no film is known to exist, as the BBC did not send its cameras that year). It was the race which turned Desert Orchid into a household name in the mid-1980s, and has subsequently been won by outstanding chasers including Best Mate, One Man and, of course, the incomparable Kauto Star, successful five times in six years between 2006 and 2011.

The dominant trainer in this race over the last quarter of a century has been Paul Nicholls, who won his first King George with See More Business in 1997 and has been racing up subsequent wins at the rate of pretty much one over two years to the point where he now has an astonishing 13 wins in all. See More Business, Kauto Star, Silviniaco Conti and Clan Des Obeaux, the first four of his six individuals winners, all went on to record at least one more victory, and the final two – Frodon (2020) and Bravemansgame (2022) – are both in the field for today’s renewal.

Frodon and Bryony Frost, who missed out on a rapturous reception when winning at 25-1 behind closed doors three years ago, are 50-1 outsiders for today’s race, but Bravemansgame is vying for favouritism with Willie Mullins’s Allaho, with just a quarter of a point between the two horses at present at 9-4 and 2-1 respectively.

Add in the mercurial Shishkin, who has been backed in to around 7-2 as punters bank on him deciding to jump off with the field, plus two live each-way shots in The Real Whacker and Hewick, and a memorable race is in prospect.

Constitution Hill, the best jumper in training, will be strutting his stuff in the Christmas Hurdle at 1.55, while three outstanding novice chase prospects are in opposition in the Grade One Kauto Star Novice Chase at 1.20.

You can, as ever, follow all the action here on the blog as one of the most eagerly-anticipated cards of the year, and the action is underway at 12.45.