Earlier King George start time feature of over 18 hours of festive action on ITV

Ed Chamberlin believes the decision to bring forward the King George VI Chase start time on Boxing Day "makes sense" as the presenter looks forward to the showpiece event in what is being billed as the ITV Racing Christmas festival.

Kempton's card on Boxing Day is the first part of the channel's action-packed schedule over the festive period, with six days of racing equating to over 18 hours of live coverage from 14 race meetings showing 41 races and eight Grade 1s in total.

The previous ten runnings of the Kempton feature have all taken place between 3pm and 3.15pm. However, with this year's race starting earlier than usual at 2.30pm, Chamberlin is confident of seeing the benefits.