Gaelic Warrior, Fact To File, Jango Baie and Sir Gino all in action at Kempton - Boxing Day build-up as it happened

Find out all the big races coming up over the Christmas period and the top content we have in store in our Festive Feast rundown.

An insightful interview with King George-winning rider Paddy Brennan is on our site and coming up later today for Racing Post+ subscribers is an entertaining interview with Harry Redknapp, Patrick Mullins' Christmas preview, 12 Plays Of Christmas from our tipping team and a Festive Stable Tour with Olly Murphy. Are you not entertained?

Our next blog will be on Boxing Day, with Matt Rennie and Oliver Barnard at the reins and covering all the news and build-up to a fantastic day of racing. Enjoy your Christmas!

Iroko: successful at Ascot on SaturdayCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Much was made of Iroko's win in a graduation chase at Ascot on Saturday and whether it would prove a help or hindrance to his Grand National prospects.

Well, the handicapper has had his say and raised the Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero-trained chaser by 4lb.

Iroko recorded a career-best Racing Post Rating of 158 in beating Firefox and James Du Berlais convincingly. You would imagine connections are reasonably content with the rise.

Hollie Doyle: hoping to hit a century for seventh successive yearCredit: Edward Whitaker

Hollie Doyle is riding at Happy Valley on the final raceday of her stint in Hong Kong today and returns to Britain with a target to hit before the year is out.

By her own admission, it has been a frustrating year on the domestic front for Doyle but she hopes to fire in four more winners before January 1 to hit a century for the seventh successive year.

Doyle returns to Britain on 96 winners and has four rides at Wolverhampton on Boxing Day. Her best chance looks to be Haku, a six-time winner from nine starts at the track, in the feature 1m4f handicap (3.35).

The rider is already jocked up for five rides at Dunstall Park on Saturday, with declarations for Saturday's racing in Britain closing at 10am on Boxing Day.

Danny Mullins: picked up some big rides at LeopardstownCredit: Patrick McCann

Paul Townend is over at Kempton on King George day and Danny Mullins has picked up some exciting rides for Willie Mullins at Leopardstown in his absence.

Mullins rides a smart recruit from France in Leader D'Allier (12.05), the well-touted Doctor Du Mesnil (12.35), Narciso Has in the Grade 2 juvenile hurdle (1.10) and Salvator Mundi, a leading contender in the Racing Post Novice Chase (2.20).

Bryan Drew's silks will be sported by Patrick Mullins on Heldam in the Leopardstown bumperCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Bryan Drew has one of the most exciting horses in training with Willie Mullins in Final Demand and the owner-trainer combination unleash a new recruit in the bumper (3.30) at Leopardstown on Friday.

Heldam won a point-to-point at Punchestown in February and the runner-up Lord Rouge won on his rules debut for Gordon Elliott and Robcour in a maiden hurdle at Cork.

In his stable tour with the Racing Post, Mullins said of Heldam: "He travelled through his point really nicely under Jamie Scallan and looked a nice type. He's only four, so we'll stick to bumpers this season. He could be a smart sort."

In the last decade, the Closutton trainer has won this bumper with Bacardys, Blackbow, Facile Vega and Green Splendour.

Donnacha O'Brien: saddles first jumps runner on FridayCredit: Patrick McCann

By David Carr

Aidan and Joseph O'Brien have many big jumps prizes to go with their Flat hauls. Now Donnacha starts out on the National Hunt trail and, given the breeding, you would have to expect he will make a decent fist of it.

Aidan's son and Joseph's younger brother, already a multiple Group 1-winning Flat trainer, will have his first runner over jumps when Galway handicap winner Kilmeaden makes his hurdling debut in the three-year-old maiden at Limerick.

The three-year-old son of Galileo has been gelded since ending his Flat campaign with a runner-up effort behind Saratoga at Listowel in September.

Market Rasen: tickets from £14.40 for the Lincolnshire National card

Do you fancy a day at the races on Boxing Day? Here are the prices for the grandstand and paddock enclosures available online for each meeting.

Kempton sold out besides festival enclosure (no access to paddock) £25
Aintree £35
Wetherby £23.50
Leopardstown €40
Limerick €28
Wolverhampton £27
Down Royal £25
Wincanton £25
Market Rasen £14.40
Fontwell £35
Sedgefield £23

No Drama This End: entered in the Challow on MondayCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

The Coral Challow Novices' Hurdle at Newbury, the Grade 1 in Britain on Monday, has attracted 13 entries.

The New Lion was successful in the race last year, while Paul Nicholls landed the four runnings from 2020-2023. He has entered leading contender No Drama This End.

On the Newbury undercard, Act Of Innocence, a Formby absentee, has been entered in the introductory hurdle.

Challow entries

Destination Dubai
Etna Bianco
Gentleman Toboot
Giantsgrave
Kalkbrenner
Klimt Madrik
Montemares
Mossy Fen Road
No Drama This End
Starzand
Swindon Village
The Blue Room
Tiptoptim

Konfusion: won the Rehearsal Chase at NewcastleCredit: John Grossick Racing

There is an underwhelming turnout in the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby (1.35), with just five runners declared for the £50,000 handicap chase.

The race has a winning prize of £28,475. When Therealbandit beat Take The Stand in the 2005 running of the then Grade 3 handicap, it was worth £29,012 to the winner.

Despite only five runners, it is impossible to rule any of them out. The progressive Konfusion heads the betting on the back of two wins in his last three starts, including most recently in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle.

Marble Sands, a winner at Cheltenham on his last start, Knappers Hill, Butch and Our Power all have plenty of form in the book too.

Bookmakers are starting to form markets on the Boxing Day actionCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Blog reader Kenny Ball has asked whether he will get his stake back if he backs a horse for Boxing Day who subsequently becomes a non-runner.

Any prices offered post-declarations are subject to day-of-race rules and you would be refunded in the event of a non-runner.

The very small caveat, if you're betting on one of the races that had an ante-post market, is make sure you are betting on a day-of-race market. 

This should be clear on the bookmakers' website or app and is only an issue if you are betting right now. 

By the other side of lunchtime, at the very latest, all firms that were ante-post on the big races ought to have switched to day-of-race markets.

Michael Buckley: Constitution Hill's owner has two runners at KemptonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Sadly there is no Constitution Hill at Kempton but Michael Buckley's silks will be seen twice on the card.

Noble Park has relished going over fences this season, winning convincingly in two chase starts, and the form of his latest Lingfield triumph was boosted by the runner-up Vanderpoel scoring at Ascot.

He bids for a hat-trick in the opening 2m4f novice handicap chase (12.45).

Buckley is also represented with Ionian in the 2m maiden hurdle (3.05). The four-year-old son of Blue Bresil has his first start for Nicky Henderson, having finished sixth in his sole run in a Irish point-to-point in April when a beaten favourite.

Sir Gino: will he maintain his unbeaten record?Credit: John Grossick Racing

How do you view the Christmas Hurdle (1.55 Kempton)? You can either think Sir Gino is a class apart or make a case that, if he is going to get beat, he might just be at his most vulnerable on his return.

This is comfortably the longest absence in Sir Gino's career (364 days) although he has won off 253-day and 233-day breaks in the past. Well, of course he has, because he has won all of his six starts!

Regarded by some as potentially the best horse in training, it will be fascinating to see how Sir Gino fares. Ratings suggest he is very much the one to beat but it is no gimme against Golden Ace, who has a knack for proving the doubters wrong, and a highly progressive Celtic Dino.

Reader Douglas Jee is looking forward to the race. He wrote: "It would be amazing and fantastic if Golden Ace won to really confirm her superiority. I personally cannot see that happening, but they said that about the Champion Hurdle and Fighting Fifth didn't they? Let’s just hope they all get round and it’s a great race."

Patrick Mullins: don't miss the rider's Christmas previewCredit: Edward Whitaker

Racing Post+ subscribers will be able to read Patrick Mullins' Christmas preview later online today, with the piece in tomorrow's newspaper along with cracking interviews with Harry Redknapp and Paddy Brennan.

The top amateur rider talks through the big hopes from Closutton over the Christmas period and here is a snippet from his thoughts on the King George VI Chase.

Patrick writes: "Will the John Durkan have left a mark [on Fact To File or Gaelic Warrior]? Possibly but neither horse came off the bridle until after the second last and the sticks weren’t drawn until after the last so they were only asked to race for less than two furlongs. I think they’ll be fine. The drier the ground, the more it plays for Fact To File, the softer the more it suits Gaelic Warrior."

Marine Nationale: returns at Leopardstown on SaturdayCredit: Patrick McCann

Majborough, Marine Nationale and Found A Fifty have been declared for the Paddy's Rewards Club Chase (1.12) at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Found A Fifty will bid to confirm recent Cork form with Majborough, while Champion Chase hero Marine Nationale will be having his first start since following up at Punchestown.

Captain Guinness
Found A Fifty
Hercule Du Seuil
Majborough
Marine Nationale
Solness
Only By Night

The other Grade 1 on the Saturday card, the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle (1.47), has attracted eight runners, including Skylight Hustle who was also entered at Aintree on Friday.

Koktail Brut
Le Divin Enfant
Love Me Tender
Mister Pessimistic
Skylight Hustle
Talk The Talk
The Passing Wife
Carrigmoornaspruce

Harry Cobden: will be intent on getting Il Est Francais into a good rhythm in frontCredit: Edward Whitaker

By Keith Melrose, betting editor

Croke Park was unlikely to be much of a player in the King George, so the main revelation from the final declarations is that the scare about Fact To File yesterday has been put down. 

While it did not take a lot of money to knock his price out to double-figures on Betfair, the worry was a lack of money willing to back him back into his previous odds.

The race is a tactical nightmare, if I am quite honest. There are tons of horses in the race with the capacity to lead, but there is a good chance that the others will be happy to let Harry Cobden get on with it aboard Il Est Francais. He would probably try to save a little more than James Reveley did last year, when the sectionals showed Il Est Francais ran an even pace.

In a field of the most experienced jockeys around, Ben Jones could be the rider to watch. His mount, The Jukebox Man, is both the likeliest to contest the pace, and the one with most to gain from an end-to-end gallop.

If he starts to hassle Il Est Francais on the second circuit, it would work against some of the uncertain stayers, like Fact To File and Jango Baie. Even Gaelic Warrior might be taken into unusual territory if Jones decides to stretch them. It will be fascinating to see how Jones acts with the dice in his hands.

Visit our racecards page to see the full fields for every meetingCredit: Edward Whitaker

Our Boxing Day cards have been updated to show the final fields for all 11 meetings – you can get an early start with your studying here.

Gaelic Warrior: narrow favourite with LadbrokesCredit: Patrick McCann

King George VI Chase sponsors Ladbrokes are finding it difficult to split the top three in the betting.

Gaelic Warrior edges favouritism at 5-2 but Fact To File and Arkle winner Jango Baie are hot on his heels as the 11-4 second favourites.

The firm also expect The Jukebox Man to be popular with punters, given he is owned by Harry Redknapp and has shown a liking for this track.

Nicola McGeady of Ladbrokes said: “The Gaelic Warrior v Fact To File rematch we have all been hoping for is officially on and what a fascinating one it will be. Add Jango Baie and The Jukebox Man into the mix and this has truly turned into a race to savour.”

Who do you think is the one to beat in the King George? Let us know by emailing liveblog@racingpost.com.

Ladbrokes: 5-2 Gaelic Warrior, 11-4 Fact To File Jango Baie, 13-2 The Jukebox Man, 14-1 Djelo, 16-1 Banbridge, 18-1 Il Est Francais, 125-1 Master Chewy.

Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott: saddle potential Supreme hopes in a maiden hurdle at Leopardstown on Friday

A certain Kopek Des Bordes won a maiden hurdle at Leopardstown on Boxing Day last year and the second race (12.35) on this year's card has attracted 22 runners, including two fascinating contenders.

Doctor Du Mesnil is third in the market at 14-1 for the Supreme with several bookmakers and clearly has a lofty reputation on the back of winning a bumper in good style on his debut for Willie Mullins at Down Royal in April.

He takes on a new recruit for Gordon Elliott in El Cairos, who was bought for £410,000 at the David Maxwell dispersal sale in October.

El Cairos finished fifth in the Champion Bumper and second to Baron Noir in a bumper at Punchestown. He is a best-price 25-1 for the Supreme.

Romeo Coolio: Arkle hope in action at LeopardstownCredit: Caroline Norris

The declarations for Friday and Saturday in Ireland have been revealed, with nine runners lining up in the Racing Post Novice Chase (2.20) at Leopardstown on Friday.

An intriguing running includes Romeo Coolio, Salvator Mundi and recent Cheltenham winner July Flower.

He's Gorgeous
Irish Panther
Nurburgring
Romeo Coolio
Salvator Mundi
Shraheen
Westport Cove
Break My Soul
July Flower