Mini Games
Boxing Day means Kempton, and Kempton means the King George. Browse King George VI Chase betting at BetVictor, with the available selections and terms shown in the markets below.
3m - E/W 1/5 3 Places
Gaelic Warrior
Kitzbuhel
Jango Baie
Lulamba
Il Etait Temps
Majborough
Romeo Coolio
Final Demand
Christmas dinner is barely out of the way before attention turns to Kempton. Saturday 26 December is the date in the diary for the 2026 King George VI Chase, with three miles and a formidable set of rivals awaiting the winner. BetVictor's horse racing odds cover the wider racing picture as Boxing Day approaches. Before settling on a selection, there is the autumn form to untangle, the weather to watch and, eventually, a declared field to assess.
Kempton stages its Christmas Festival across two afternoons. For anyone used to the old running order, one change is worth noting: the Kauto Star Novices' Chase switches to the second day, Sunday 27 December. No such move for the King George, which stays on Boxing Day.
There is another King George in the calendar, of course. Ascot's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes belongs to the Flat season. Make sure it is Kempton's chase you have opened when looking through the markets.
Four-year-olds and older can take their chance in this Grade 1. The job facing them is a three-mile steeplechase on Kempton's right-handed turf course, with 18 fences between the start and the finish.
It is not a handicap. The weights follow the race conditions, with allowances where applicable, rather than being adjusted to give each runner an equal theoretical chance. That makes it a different proposition from many of the big Saturday handicap chases.
Three miles requires stamina, but staying power alone is not enough. A horse also needs to travel comfortably and jump without repeatedly surrendering ground. One untidy leap might be recoverable. Several can leave a jockey working hard before the race has properly begun.
The win market is the natural starting point, though it may not be the only option on the racecard. What is offered can change between the ante-post stage and race day, so use the displayed markets as your guide.
A win bet backs one horse to finish first. Coming second, however narrowly, is not enough for that selection to succeed.
It is easy to recognise a famous name and stop reading. Give the less familiar runners a look too, and ask what the fancied horse has actually shown this season. Being the favourite does not get it over the fences.
There are two parts to an each-way bet. You are backing the horse to win, but also staking money on it making a qualifying place. Equal stakes on those two parts mean twice the outlay of a win-only bet at the same unit stake.
The number of places and the fraction paid on the place portion matter. Do not assume that third place will qualify, particularly in a smaller field. Read the terms attached to the selection before confirming it.
The each-way bet calculator can help you work through possible returns using those terms. A placed horse does not necessarily return more than the total amount staked.
A place-only wager has no separate win portion. It asks whether your horse finishes inside the positions specified by that particular market.
Those positions need checking in their own right. The place-only market and an each-way offer should not be treated as interchangeable simply because both use the word “place”.
Where offered, a without market excludes a named runner, or runners, when settling the bet. Your selection must finish ahead of the other horses that still count.
The excluded horse can win the actual race without preventing your bet from winning. Equally, backing another runner in a without market does not mean any finishing position will do. Read exactly which horses are excluded.
For a straight forecast, choose your winner and the horse that will follow it home in second. They must finish in that order. Reversing the forecast puts on a second bet with their positions swapped.
Getting the winner right is only half the task here. The second horse must also fill the required position. If a forecast is available, the forecast bet calculator can help you explore potential returns; an illustration is not a guaranteed dividend.
An ante-post market can appear well before the final field is known. At that point, a horse may have several possible targets and still need to come through its preparation without a setback.
Under standard ante-post terms, a selection that does not run usually loses. Non-runner no bet is different, but it only applies when explicitly offered. Never infer it from the fact that a horse is listed in the market.
There is a trade-off between betting early and waiting. Early on, the field is less certain. Closer to Boxing Day, you should have more information about declarations, jockey bookings and the going. Neither approach guarantees a better price or a successful bet.
A finishing position tells only part of the story. Was the horse returning from a break? Did it make mistakes, race too freely or face ground that did not suit? Watch the run back if you can, particularly the fences near the end.
Then look at who else was in the race. Beating a modest field comfortably may not tell you as much as getting close to a proven Grade 1 performer. A row of wins can look persuasive until you examine what was beaten.
Has the horse been round Kempton before? If so, that replay is worth finding. Look at how it handled the turns and whether it kept its rhythm at the fences. Remember the distance, though: success here over two miles leaves something to prove over three.
Check the official going near race day. Winter weather can change the test, and a performance on good ground may tell you less about a horse's prospects when conditions are soft. The forecast you read a week beforehand is only a forecast; come back to it once the meeting is closer.
Count the horses that normally race near the front. If several want the same position, they could spend more energy getting there than their jockeys would like. With only one habitual leader, the early stages might unfold quite differently.
Fewer runners do not make those decisions disappear. A jockey still has to judge when to press on and when to wait. If you cannot make much sense of the likely race, or have doubts about several horses' fitness, leaving it alone is a perfectly reasonable decision.
Anyone who watched the 2025 finish had good reason to hold their breath. The Jukebox Man just got the better of Banbridge, giving Ben Jones and Ben Pauling the winning ride and training honours respectively. Owner Harry Redknapp had quite a Boxing Day to celebrate.
Here are the winners of the six most recent completed editions:
Ask a long-standing racing fan about this race and two names are likely to come up quickly: Kauto Star and Desert Orchid. Kauto won it five times, signing off with his last success in 2011; Desert Orchid managed four. Returning champions do not all follow their example, but those two made Kempton a huge part of their story.
Cannot find it yet? The market may not be open. Come back nearer the meeting rather than choosing a similarly named contest at another course.
By Boxing Day, there is already a fair amount of autumn racing to look back on. The Cheltenham November Meeting is one stop along the way, with established jumpers and less exposed horses appearing across its cards.
Kempton also gives racegoers something to discuss ahead of March. The Gold Cup will ask more of a horse's stamina, so there is plenty to consider before carrying a Boxing Day opinion into Cheltenham Festival betting. The winner here still has another, different race to run there.
For a longer-distance handicap over Aintree's distinctive fences, there is also Grand National betting. Keep the demands of each race separate when comparing horses across the season.
Decide what you can afford to lose before opening the markets. Leave money for bills and other essentials untouched, and do not raise your next stake to recover a losing bet. A busy Boxing Day card is not a reason to bet on every race.
Take a break if betting stops being enjoyable. No runner, market or approach removes the possibility of losing your stake.
