No inspection required ahead of William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton
Clerk of the course at Kempton, Barney Clifford, sees no need for an inspection prior to the William Hill King George VI Chase, to be held on the Boxing Day. Despite a couple of heavy showers, the administration has termed the track as ‘perfectly raceable’.
Clifford stated: “We’ve had two heavy showers yielding eight millimetres of rain. The ground is officially heavy. There are further showers around, but I think we’ve seen the worst of them. There is likely to be more rain just after midnight but Boxing Day is forecast to be bright and sunny until mid-afternoon. It’s perfectly raceable and we can look forward to a bumper day.”
The Sunbury circuit is due to stage multiple big events on Wednesday, December 26th. But the focus will be entirely on the Grade 1 William Hill King George VI Chase, scheduled to start at 15:10 GMT. The going is heavy; therefore, 10 horses, who have made it to the final line-up, will have to be really careful.
According to the betting forecast, Long Run has been given the best odds. Nicky Henderson’s charge acts on soft, and has no stamina issues to address. Although the 7-year-old has not done anything special since February’s Betfair Denman Chase success at Newbury, no punter would like to ignore him under these conditions.
The Giant Bolster is another fine runner, who is unlikely to find Kempton’s conditions any demanding. The recent rainfall has made things very tricky at Kempton, and it will be interesting to see how the participants perform.
Kempton is ready for action, but the situation at Fontwell is really concerning. Following 17 millimetres of overnight rain, the clerk of the course, Ed Arkell, was left with no option, but to call an early morning inspection.
Wetherby is also due to go through an inspection. Despite heavy showers, Jonjo Sanderson, clerk of the course, is pretty confident, saying that the chances of racing are bright.
He said: “The forecast is dry today and we could even race today. We had five millimetres of rain yesterday and all it’s done since then is improve.”
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