The preparation for the big Christmas meetings at Kempton and Leopardstown starts here with Timeform's in-depth guide
Timeform’s Kempton course guide
Right handed, flat. It's a very fair course but, whilst the fences aren't necessarily regarded as stiff, the casualty rate has been high in recent seasons.
Leading active jockeys at the King George meeting
Sorted by strike rate in the last five years (minimum 10 rides)
- Nico de Boinville 29.17% (7-24)
- Harry Skelton 22.73% (5-22)
- Jonathan Burke 15.38% (2-13)
- Sean Bowen 13.33% (2-15)
- Aidan Coleman 13.33% (2-15)
All five of Harry (and Dan – see below) Skelton’s winners at the King George meeting in the last five years came at last year’s fixture which included winning the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase on Shan Blue and the Desert Orchid Chase on Nube Negra.
Leading active trainers at the King George meeting
Sorted by strike rate in the last five years (minimum 10 runners)
- Nicky Henderson 26% (13-50)
- Harry Fry 18.75% (3-16)
- Paul Nicholls 16.07% (9-56)
- Dan Skelton 14.71% (5-34)
- Tom George 14.29% (2-14)
Nicky Henderson’s three wins in the Christmas Hurdle in the last five years (with Buveur d’Air, Verdana Blue and Epatante between 2017 and 2019) brings his record total of winners in that race to nine. Shishkin was also Henderson’s ninth winner of the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase since 2000, a race Paul Nicholls has won six times, including twice in the last five years.
King George VI Chase trends
Since 2000 unless specified otherwise
Age – Seven-year-olds have the best record with 7/21 wins, with eight-year-olds next best (5/21). Four six-year-olds have been successful, though one of those, Long Run would actually have been only five had the race not been postponed from Boxing Day until January that season. The only winners older than nine this century have been 11-year-olds Edredon Bleu (2003) and Kauto Star (when successful for the fifth and final time in 2011) and the record of older horses is poor in general, with other multiple winners Wayward Lad and Desert Orchid the only others older than nine to be successful since the 1950s.
SP – The majority of King George winners haven’t been too hard to find, with 13/21 sent off at odds of 3/1 or shorter; Kauto Star was odds on for each of his first four wins. But his trainer Paul Nicholls has also been responsible for both the recent longer priced winners, Clan des Obeaux (12/1 when successful for the first time in 2018) and Frodon (20/1 last year) when neither was the stable’s apparent first string. Edredon Bleu was an outlier by SP as well as age, his SP of 25/1 the longest this century.
Trainers to follow – Between them, Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Colin Tizzard have won every renewal since 2006. Nicholls has won a record 12 King Georges, with repeat winners See More Business (1997/1999), Kauto Star (2006-2009 and 2011), Silviniaco Conti (2013/2014) and Clan des Obeaux (2018/2019) preceding Frodon. Willie Mullins won it with Florida Pearl in 2001, while Tom Taaffe is the only Irish trainer successful since with Kicking King in 2004 and 2005.
Timeform's Leopardstown course guide
The Leopardstown course is a wide, left-handed oval track, about a mile and three quarters in length. The course is fairly level with easy turns except for a slight rise from the last bend. Leopardstown provides a fair test, although three of the fences in the back straight are close together and occasionally catch out the less-accomplished chaser, and the finishing straight is relatively short.
The inner hurdles course, used occasionally, is rather sharper in character than the chase track and tends to provide a significant test of tactical speed.
Leading active jockeys at Leopardstown in December
Sorted by strike rate in the last five years (minimum 10 rides)
- Mr Patrick Mullins 43.48% (10-23)
- Mr Finian Maguire 36.36% (4-11)
- Paul Townend 27.42% (17-62)
- Jack Kennedy 18.46% (12-65)
- Davy Russell 14.08% (10-71)
Patrick Mullins, riding for his father Willie, owes most of his success and his excellent strike rate to his record in the meeting’s bumpers which have brought him seven winners.
His other three wins have all come aboard Sharjah in the last three renewals of what is now the Matheson Hurdle, despite the stable fielding shorter-priced candidates each time. Fellow amateur Finian Maguire has had fewer opportunities in Leopardstown’s bumpers but has really made them count, notably in 2018 when he won three of them at odds of 7/1, 10/1 and 33/1.
Over jumps, Paul Townend leads the way among active jockeys, particularly after a bonanza at last year’s fixture where his nine winners (more than the previous four years combined) included Grade 1 victories with Appreciate It, Chacun Pour Soi and Monkfish.
Leading active trainers at Leopardstown in December
Sorted by strike rate in the last five years (minimum 10 runners)
- Willie Mullins 22.89% (46-201)
- Henry de Bromhead 11.33% (17-150)
- Thomas Mullins 10.81% (4-37)
- Gordon Elliott 9.8% (20-204)
- Joseph O’Brien 9.65% (11-114)
Willie Mullins is out on his own in terms of strike rate at the meeting, hitting the target more than twice as often as main rival Gordon Elliott from a very similar total number of runners. A haul of 13 winners over the five days was impressive last year but that was a tally Mullins had beaten by one in 2016.
Besides the Matheson, which he has won eight times in all in the last 11 years, Mullins also has prolific records in recent runnings of the Future Champions Novice Hurdle and Racing Post Novice Chase (won by Appreciate It and Franco de Port respectively last year) and in the Grade 3 mares’ hurdle where Concertista was the stable’s fifth consecutive winner of that contest when successful in 2020.
Savills Chase trends
Since 2000 unless specified otherwise
Age – Eight-year-olds have won what is now known as the Savills Chase seven times this century but a clear trend in recent seasons has seen six-year-olds equal that score; this age group have now won the last four renewals and five of the last six. It’s very much a race for younger chasers, with nine-year-old Beef Or Salmon (successful for a second time in 2005) and 11-year-old Tidal Bay (the winner in 2012) the only two winners this century aged older than eight.
SP – While the last five favourites have all been turned over, there have been no real shocks this century with Outlander the longest-priced winner at 11/1 in 2016. A year earlier, Don Poli became the fourth odds-on favourite to oblige.
Trainers to follow – British trainers enjoyed a particularly successful spell between 2003 and 2013 when registering eight wins, including three for Paul Nicholls (Denman, What A Friend and Tidal Bay). But the last three renewals have been entirely Irish affairs, and Jonjo O’Neill (successful with Exotic Dancer in 2008 and Synchronised in 2011) is the only British-based trainer to have been represented since 2015.
Since the last British-trained winner, Bobs Worth for Nicky Henderson, Noel Meade, Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott have all been successful twice, with Meade having trained the winner four times all told.
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