Kevin Blake's Big Race Verdict: Back Banbridge to land King George VI Chase glory

• Kevin Blake gives his big race verdict on the 2024 King George VI Chase

• Banbridge gets the nod for the Irish

• Superb field of 11 runners head to post

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11 runners head to post in 2024 King George VI Chase

The King George VI Chase (14:30) at Kempton is always one of the highlights of the Christmas racing and can often end up being one of the highlights of the entire season.

The list of previous winners of the race is a who's who of legends of the sport and hopes are always high that the race will produce another epic.

On paper at least, this year's renewal of the race has every chance of doing so. It has produced a fine field of 11 runners and six of them are rated over 160, so the stage is well set for what promises to be an excellent race.

2024 King George VI Chase pace map

As always, the first port of call is to try and get a feel for how the race is likely to pan out. In short, it would be a surprise if this race isn't run at an above-average pace, as there is one clear candidate to go a strong gallop from the front and a couple of others that are likely to want to be in hot pursuit.

Il Est Francais is the established front runner in the field and put on a tremendous display of jumping and front-running in the Kauto Star Novices' Chase on this card last year.

He looks very likely to set out to make the running at a solid tempo. Juntos Gasamos is a regular front runner, though was happy to follow Il Est Francais when they met in the Prix la Haye Jousselin at Auteuil last time. The Real Whacker is a regular front runner/pace pusher.

Bravesmangame has often raced prominently or pushed the pace and his rider Harry Cobden has stated publicly that he intends to ride him positively on Thursday.

L'Homme Presse likes to race prominently and can often jump left, so the others will need to be aware of this tendency and not get caught tracking him on his outer. Grey Dawning is likely to be handy.

Irish raiders to thrown down a big challenge

While the home team will field a strong field of runners, the raiding party from Ireland look to be particularly strong. The Jimmy Mangan-trained Spillane's Tower leads the way and he has strong credentials on paper. He was given an aggressive novice chase campaign by modern standards having had seven starts, but he thrived on the work and finishing his campaign with his two best efforts, winning WillowWarm Gold Cup at Fairyhouse and the Champion Novice Chase at the Punchestown Festival.

Those performances put him up there with the best novice chasers of last season, but he lifted his form up to an even higher level when reappearing in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase last month. Weak in the betting and seemingly with low expectations attached to him, he ran a huge race to finish ½-length second to Fact To File with Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow behind him. With improvement likely to be forthcoming and the shape of the race appealing as being likely to play to his strengths, he looks to have plenty in his favour.

Mind, the quickening ground is something that is likely to worry connections. Jimmy Mangan has said that he'd like the word soft to appear in the official ground description on the day and with there being no rain forecast, it seems much more likely to be good ground than soft. Comfort might well be taken from the fact that Spillane's Tower has produced his two best efforts on ground that Timeform called good-to-soft, but it is a little worry for sure.

Back Banbridge to land King George VI Chase

The one that makes the most appeal to me is the Joseph O'Brien-trained Banbridge. The eight-year-old has made a steady rather than a spectacular rise to the top over fences, with his well-publicised preference for a sound surface meaning that some of the gaps between his runs have been longer than intended.

Indeed, he was restricted to just three starts during his second season over fences last season, but made the most of them, winning the Silviniaco Conti Chase at this track in January and coming with a very late surge to win the Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival in first-time cheekpieces.

The King George VI Chase has been his target since his win at Punchestown and while his preparation for it has been somewhat unorthodox, that was the route his trainer plotted and his most recent run in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork was full of promise.

On that occasion he jumped well and looked to be winding up to deliver a big challenge to Energumene only for that rival to jump across him at the final fence and lead to his rider Richie Deegan being unseated.

It is of course impossible to know what would have happened, but given how strongly Banbridge tends to finish over two miles, he must have had a great chance of going very close if not winning. Even if he'd been beaten, pushing Energumene close when trying to give away 10lb to him would have been an almighty career-best effort.

While Banbridge's stamina for three miles has yet to be proven, he has long hinted that such a trip will be within his reach. The cheekpieces that he responded so well to at the Punchestown Festival last season are reapplied, the ground has very much come right for him and Paul Townend takes over the ride on him. He ticks an awful lot of boxes and a big run from him looks assured.

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