What would the Festive period be without The King George VI Chase? Colin Tizzard has pretty much scared off the rest of the field running scared with Thistlecrack and Cue Card running in the field which will have a maximum of seven. The two stablemates are lining up at the head of the market of the Boxing Day race which has seen Vroum Vroum Mag and Valseur Lido both withdraw already. So those two big Irish withdrawals could be made worse by Road To Riches still being something of a doubt to make the starting line after recovering from surgery.
So the Kempton clash has Cue Card out as favourite at a price of 11/8 with Coral and he is the defending champion for the contest. Stablemate Thistlecrack is running at 6/4 with online bookmaker Coral. So there is mouthwatering showdown the cards here and the inclusion of Thistlecrack who is still a novice over the fences let’s not forget, has made up for the withdrawal of 2015 Gold Cup winner Coneygree.
So while Thistlecrack proved himself as a cracking daredevil over the hurdles, he has only had three races in his short chasing career. But Thistlecrack, who gave up the World Hurdle for a shot at this, is still expected to put down a stern challenge to last year’s King George winner Cue Card. Paddy Brennan goes on Cue Card while Tom Scudamore will be in the seat for Thistlecrack. For Cue Card there is the chance of him to land a £1m bonus for winning the Betfair Chase, King George and Gold Cup during his career. Will he be thwarted by his stablemate?
Cue Card is officially rated 2lb higher than Thistlecrack and the latter hasn’t taken on anything of the calibre of Cue Card in his career. Josses Hill is going as third favourite and will only have appeal for punters if they think that Cue Card and Thistlecrack are going to mismanage the fences. Josses Hill has never been the most natural jumper but he has looked far better this season and took out Tea For Two in the Peterborough Chase in his last appearance. While Josses Hill has won over the Kempton Course twice before, he hasn’t gone this distance.
King George VI Chase betting Odds 2016
Cue Card 11/8, Thistlecrack 6/4, Josses Hill 11/1, Tea For Two 16/1, Silviniaco Conti 25/1, Road To Riches 25/1, Roi Des Francs 50/1.
Online betting site Coral are now running a Bet & Get Club. Each week with the bookmaker, make £25 worth of qualifying stakes which can be across any sport and in return you will collect a free £5 bet. The qualifying odds just have to be at a price of even money and the each promotion week runs from Monday through Thursday. Go and register an account with online betting site Coral at the moment and when you bet £10 you can pick up a £40 credit to pick yourself up a free retro football shirt from toffs.com!
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