Wednesday 26th December 2018

I hope you had a lovey Christmas Day and the Turkey was tasty, touch wood Santa found his way too.

The sport on Boxing Day is probably the best of the year, we have some fantastic racing and football on offer. The feature race of the afternoon is The King George at Kempton.

Before looking at the King George I’ve placed a few bets. It’s not possible to go through all the cards in detail but hopefully the below might run will.

Benny’s Bridge 12:40 Market Rasen, hasn’t had a huge amount of luck so far this season. I’m not sure what happened on seasonal debut, Benny’s Bridge was 2^nd and ran a sound race but somehow didn’t win. Watch a reply and you’ll see what I mean. Benny’s Bridge then fell at the second hurdle on his latest start in a decent race at Ascot.

Today’s race is a fair Novice Hurdle with some promising types running. A few winners will likely come out of this race but Benny’s Bridge has shown more than enough to go close. I’m hoping he’ll have that bit of luck and make it third time lucky. Odds of 13-8 look alright.

I've been impressed with Santini, he bids to follow up in the 1:55 at Kempton. Santini beat Rocky’s Treasure on chase debut, that horse has since won a Grade 2 Chase by 17 lengths, the form looks good. Any of the top five in the betting could win but I think Santini might take high rank in this division.

The King George is bit of a puzzle, we have a few questions marks against some of these. Waiting Patiently could be the joker in the pack, he’s looked very good so far but winning a race of this nature after 312 days off is a huge ask. If he does so, we’ll be looking at a new Gold Cup favourite. Politologue has a stamina doubt, I don’t think he’ll stay so have passed on him.

Bristol De Mai was outstanding last time out but doesn’t seem to repeat that level of form away from Haydock. I can forgive a horse one bad run so Might Bite can’t be ruled out. The fences at Haydock we’re huge and I thought Might Bite perhaps got tired. Native River is the horse that will run his race, Richard Johnson will likely bid to make this a proper test from an early stage.

I’m with the Gold Cup fist and second, Might Bite and Native River. These look the safest bets in the race.