From Kempton to California: ten burning questions that will be answered in Christmas week
It is a week of revelation. Once the presents are unwrapped and crackers pulled, we can look forward to seven days of top-class racing that will leave us with much more than a celebrity autobiography and a corny joke.
Graded races from Liverpool to Leopardstown, Chepstow to Cheltenham will tell us a lot about which horses are the ones to beat at the big festivals in the spring.
And we should also get the answer to plenty of other questions more important than what do you get if you eat Christmas decorations? (Tinselitis).
Such as:
Is Allaho still the real deal?
Allaho took the breath away by running high-class rivals into the ground in the 2m4½f Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in 2021, scored by even further 12 months later. and then threw down a marker to the top stayers by winning over 3m at Punchestown the following month.
Which made it all the more frustrating that he should then be sidelined by injury for 19 months and has been seen just once since, beating two rivals on his comeback at Clonmel in November.
A top-form, bold-jumping, strong-running Allaho would be a sight to savour in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton and would really shake up the three-mile division. Fingers crossed that is what we see on Tuesday.
Was Constitution Hill worth waiting for?
The only thing that can beat Michael Buckley’s brilliant hurdler Constitution Hill at the moment is the weather.
Frost put paid to his intended reappearance in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, then heavy rain made the ground too testing for Nicky Henderson to want to run him when the race was rearranged at Sandown.
He has won six Grade 1 races in a row, by a combined total of 75 lengths, and his Champion Hurdle rivals will be looking for any sign of weakness when he finally reappears in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.
Qu’est que c'est que ca?
The aptly-named Il Est Francais is an intriguing contender for Tuesday’s Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices' Chase at Kempton.
Can he emulate Djeddah and Jair Du Cochet, who came over from France to land this Grade 1 contest more than 20 years ago?
He has won seven of his last eight races, bolting up the last twice, and is expected to be able to adapt to the different demands of British racing by three-time French champion jockey James Reveley, who is missing Christmas Day at Pau to prioritise Kempton.
What will Liverpool make of racing on Boxing Day?
There is a new venue on the festive rota, with Huntingdon’s traditional meeting switched to fellow Jockey Club course Aintree.
The owners are clearly keen to make the new meeting work, with more than £250,000 in prize-money on offer, and the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle switched north from Sandown and renamed the Formby Novices' Hurdle.
That race has filled, but will the stands? It will be fascinating to see how much the transferred fixture appeals to locals, who are much more used to football on Boxing Day.
Will it be Willie or Gordon in Ireland?
Trainers’ championships are not won in December, but we are sure to get a good idea of how the title race may play out in Ireland this week, with seven Grade 1 races run over four days at Leopardstown.
Gordon Elliott starts the week more than €600,000 clear of Willie Mullins and the pair clearly mean business, with nearly 50 runners between them on Boxing Day/St Stephen’s Day alone.
That said, the pair had numerous hotpots beaten at Leopardstown last year, from Samcro to Stormy Ireland, Melon to Mengli Khan, so don’t be afraid to back the outsider of three in a two-horse race this week.
Can they do it again at Chepstow?
Jamie Snowden and Gavin Sheehan won the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury with Datsalrightgino and the sponsors reckon they have a favourite’s chance of beating the bookie once again with Super Survivor in Wednesday’s Coral Welsh Grand National.
But he has to prove he can see off 21 rivals round a gruelling 3m6½f and 23 fences, whereas Iwilldoit has shown he already has what it takes by triumphing in 2021.
The Glamorgan-trained runner made an encouraging return over hurdles at Aintree last month and has been well backed to become the first dual winner of his country’s biggest race since Bonanza Boy in 1998 and 1999.
Has Galopin Des Champs still got it?
The Willie Mullins-trained chaser Galopin Des Champs has looked something special for quite a while and proved himself truly top-class with an authoritative success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last March.
But he was beaten at Punchestown the following month and failed to impress when only third on his comeback there in November.
Has the Gold Cup left its mark? We will get a better idea when he returns to action in Thursday’s Savills Chase at Leopardstown, where “a change of tactics” is reportedly on the cards.
Can she do it again at Doncaster?
Christmas is a time to welcome back old friends such as the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Zambella, who has sent punters home happy by winning Friday's Yorkshire Silver Vase (2.15) at Doncaster at short odds in each of the last two years.
She looked as good as ever in scoring a 12th career success by 17 lengths from subsequent close Tommy Whittle Chase runner-up Burrows Diamond at Aintree and will again be the one to beat.
Will you-know-who steal the headlines once more?
It was on Boxing Day last year that Frankie Dettori first hinted that he was not going to slip quietly into retirement by launching what was supposed to be his last hurrah with a Grade 2 winner at Santa Anita in California.
He enjoyed a four-timer there in February and never stopped riding winners in 2023, returning to Britain to land the 2,000 Guineas, Oaks and Champion Stakes among many other big victories.
That encouraged him to put the Werthers Originals and slippers on hold and return to the US. So after failing to trouble the judge in I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, he resumes with three Grade 1 rides back at Santa Anita on Boxing Day, including ex-British filly Khinjani in the American Oaks.
Who will turn up at Southwell on New Year’s Day?
No paying racegoers, sadly, as flood damage means that only owners and annual members can attend the revamped New Year’s Day meeting.
Which is a shame because there is £175,000 of prize-money on offer after the course outbid Fakenham to switch its traditional Flat card on January 1 to a jumps fixture.
It will be interesting to see what calibre of horse turns up for a meeting whose feature event is the £75,000 Staythorpe Handicap Hurdle over 2m.
Read these next:
Do you want £800+ of free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.
Published on inBritain
Last updated
Copy- 'You've got to feel for him' - birthday boy Jonathan Fisher suffers double blow of fractured neck and a 14-day ban
- 'Racing needs us and we need racing' - Betfred's Fred Done relishing taking on sponsorship of all five British Classics
- 'Both are Sussex-bound' - Rosallion and Haatem to clash again as Hannon eyes Goodwood Group 1 for his pair
- 'He's definitely the best I've sat on' - Tom Eaves confident of July Cup success with Inisherin
- Football-mad Bell looking to July festival as potentially smart juvenile moves forward from debut win
- 'You've got to feel for him' - birthday boy Jonathan Fisher suffers double blow of fractured neck and a 14-day ban
- 'Racing needs us and we need racing' - Betfred's Fred Done relishing taking on sponsorship of all five British Classics
- 'Both are Sussex-bound' - Rosallion and Haatem to clash again as Hannon eyes Goodwood Group 1 for his pair
- 'He's definitely the best I've sat on' - Tom Eaves confident of July Cup success with Inisherin
- Football-mad Bell looking to July festival as potentially smart juvenile moves forward from debut win