King George IV Chase Tips, Odds and Betting Offers, Kempton Park, Monday 26th December 2016

Boxing Day is one of the best days of the year for horse racing fans. This year, as ever, there are some great meetings taking place up and down the country but there is one race that stands above all the others, the King George IV Chase at Kempton Park.

The Grade 1 race is right up there with the Cheltenham Gold Cup in terms of prestige and this year’s renewal looks especially exciting. The betting suggests that the winner of the three mile chase is going to come from the Colin Tizzard-trained pair of Cue Card and Thistlecrack. But who should you be backing?

This is a great pointer for the Festival in March too so check out our Cheltenham Festival betting offers.

King George IV Chase Betting Tips and Offers

This time last year, people were wondering whether Cue Card could ever win the King George. Everybody in the sport knew about the quality of the gelding but he threw away three previous chances to win at Kempton Park. Happily for Tizzard and Cue Card’s connections, he finally overcame concerns about his stamina last year. This time around, Cue Card is the narrow favourite with the bookies but he is right up against it with stablemate Thistlecrack.

Thistlecrack is two years younger than Cue Card and therefore has to make up for a lack of experience in a race of this quality. The eight-year-old also has making up to do in terms of his rating as he never quite reached the heights of Cue Card. However, you can put those doubts to one side simply because of Thistlecrack’s incredible talent.

Let’s look at the positives. Thistlecrack has won all but one of his 10 starts at three miles, his connections have long thought him to have a real chance of winning the King George and he’s shown an ability to win races by having the stamina to kick late on and by making all the running. Tizzard will have Thistlecrack well schooled over fences so there is a real chance he can take his quality performances over hurdles onto the biggest stages. Make no mistake, both of the top two have what it takes to win this but it does look as though Thistlecrack may just edge it at a top price of 11/8 with BetVictor.

With such a small field, the bookies have gone down to two places. That pretty much rules out backing either of the top two each way but it could well be worth taking the 25/1 that Sky Bet are quoting on Silviniaco Conti. The two-time King George winner was pulled up last year but he’s responded well since wearing blinkers. Some thought that Silviniaco Conti’s poor performance at the Grand National signalled that the end was nigh for a remarkable career but he’s shown that, on his day, he can still compete amongst this calibre of opposition. It’s a bit of a shot but at 25/1, one that is well worth taking!

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