King George 2013 Ante-Post

Late Chris-mas Present - 2012 runner-up Captain Chris looks a big price for the King George

With the market for Kempton’s festive showpiece getting Pricewised this week, now is probably a good time to start thinking about the big race which will be upon us now in just three weeks.

The King George is always a fabulous Boxing Day treat and is as much of a Christmas tradition for racing enthusiasts as awful jumpers and family arguments.

More so than getting that one present you really wanted finding the winner of the three mile contest can really make your Christmas.

In spite of the absence of the great Kauto Star last year’s renewal still delivered a cracker as Long Run and Captain Chris fought out an extremely narrow finish.

The latter horse has run creditably in defeat in this race two years in a row now and as the market currently stands he looks the value bet in the race to me as he aims to go one better than last year.

King George 2013 Preview

What's that coming over the Hill? - Supplemented Hillstar can step up and win the King George

Just before the time of writing this preview the 2013 renewal of the King George lost a lot of its gloss with the terrible career-ending injury to favourite St. Nicholas Abbey.

At the time of writing it is unknown whether the injury will also be life-ending, but hopefully St. Nic can be saved and can go on to the stud career I always expected of him.

This year’s King George was already just missing something for me and with St. Nic now out too it really does feel a little lackluster. That said, it does look competitive stuff and could end up being a wide open renewal of a race that has provided some real thrills over the last few years.

The race has always had a distinctly international flavour and this year’s renewal is no different, and what better place to start than with the highest rated horse in training in the world Cirrus Des Aigles.