Kempton Park officials are confident of beating cold snap for King George Chase on Boxing Day

Kempton Park’s Clerk of the course Barney Clifford is confident that the William Hill King George VI Chase festival will beat the current cold snap and go ahead as planned on Boxing Day.

The recent cold snap has already put several National Hunt fixtures on Boxing Day in doubt, with racing at Towcester already abandoned. But Kempton Park has deployed frost covers over the entirety of the track and officials are confident that the course will be ready for racing.

“If we were racing today we’d fall into the same trap as Haydock on Saturday that if we lifted the covers they would freeze behind us, so it’s a good job they are in place. Looking ahead, the temperatures are due to rise from tonight and over the next three or four days,” Clifford said.

“We’ve got some precipitation coming through – showers of rain and sleet – but temperatures are set to rise to four degrees tomorrow and five degrees Christmas Day and hopefully increasing through Boxing Day and December 27. It’s perfectly raceable under the covers, they keep the ground temperature high.

“Prior to employing the covers, we were good to soft and we’ve had 10 millimetres of precipitation but you still couldn’t call it anything other than good. It might ride a bit dead.”

The Queen's horse Barbers Shop

There will be a number of possible runners for this year’s King George VI Chase in action at the Newbury Winter Festival between November 26 – 28.

The highlight of the Newbury Winter Festival is the Hennessy Gold Cup on Saturday November 28. In it’s 50th yeah, the Hennessy Gold Cup is a Grade 3 National Hunt chase open to 4 year olds and over. Last year’s winner Madison du Berlais is a possible runner in this year’s King George Chase.

Notable horses entered in the 2009 Hennessy Gold Cup Chase that could go onto contest the King George Chase include Joe Lively, Roll Along, War Of Attrition and current equal second favourites (with antepost odds of 13/2 at William Hill) Babers Shop and What A Friend.

Also on Hennessy Gold Cup Day at Newbury, Nacarat will run in the Long Distance Hurdle. Trainer Tom George is hoping that the 3m 110y hurdle will give Nacarat a good run and then a long enough break before the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on December 26.

UK bookmaker William Hill is the new sponsor of the King George VI Chase in a four year deal that includes the Winter Festival at Kempton Park.

The two day Christmas event will now be known as the William Hill Winter Festival. William Hill also have naming rights to all of the races across the two days including the King George Chase, Christmas Hurdle, Desert Orchid Chase and Feltham Chase, all premier events on the National Hunt calendar.

While the deal was thought to be around £5 million, William Hill spokesman, David Hood dismissed this “This is far and away our biggest sponsorship. It is a seven-figure deal over the four years – we have not disclosed the exact details, but it isn’t anywhere near the £4m or £5m. The total prize-money [of all the races involved] is over £5m but that’s not the contribution made by Hill’s. I’d like to give them £5m but there isn’t quite that available.”

Amy Starkey, Kempton Park’s Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement on a four-year sponsorship for Kempton Park’s flagship jumps meeting of the year. The William Hill Winter Festival will further strengthen the racecourse, and we will now work with Hills to enhance what is a superb advertisement for our sport.”

This is great news for the King George Chase as well as Kempton Park, as it secures the future of this great race until 2012. And if you want to have a bet on this year’s race then you can with William Hill.