King George Chase Betting Tips, Odds & Analysis
Fifteen horses have won the King George VI Chase more than once and Bravemansgame is a long-range 7/4 chance with betting sites to join that elite group of horses on Boxing Day in 2023.
The reigning champion is the obvious place to start for anyone assessing ante-post odds for the 2023 edition of steeplechasing’s second-most prestigious contest.
First and foremost, Bravemansgame is trained by Paul Nicholls, whose record in the Kempton showpiece is quite remarkable.
The 13-time winning trainer is peerless when it comes to having his contenders primed for the winter showpiece, as Bravemansgame underlined in 2022.
If a race could be framed for Bravemansgame, then the King George is it. The conditions of the race – three miles on a sharp, flat track, are simply perfect for a horse whose biggest attributes are his ability to travel and jump economically at championship pace.
Bravemansgame didn’t get the smoothest of trips in 2022 but was still an emphatic winner, indeed he would have won in good style even if Charlie Deutsch had been able stay on board L’Homme Presse after the last fence.
He is surely going to be trained by Nicholls for a repeat King George bid through the first half of next season and it’s going to take something special to stop him.
That something special is most likely going to come from Ireland but there are some worthy English contenders that shouldn't be underestimated.
Shishkin is the biggest rival to Bravemansgame and he is currently the 4/1 second favourite. He was brilliant in the Clarence House Chase beating subsequent dual Champion Chase winner Energumene.
That win seemed to take its toll on him as he flopped in his next two outings, but he roared back to form in the Ascot Chase at the start of this year, although he failed to follow that up with an indifferent run in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
He put that defeat behind him in Liverpool when he reeled in Ahoy Senor to win the Aintree Bowl Chase and he now looks like the biggest threat to Bravemansgame.
L’Homme Presse is a 10/1 shot with betting apps and he would probably have finished second in the 2022 King George.
But he was clearly losing the argument with Bravemansgame when unshipping his jockey after the last and his tendency to jump left suggests that although he has won right-handed, he is better suited by returning to a left-handed track.
He wasn’t seen to best effect around Kempton and for that reason there are probably going to be better value alternatives in ante-post King George 2023 betting lists.
Mullins Pair Could Play a Major Part
Willie Mullins has at least two horses that look capable of giving Bravemansgame a run for his money in the 2023 King George and that number could easily increase as we go into the 2023-24 season.
The obvious long-range contenders from Closutton are Galopin Des Champs and Allaho.
The latter was being targeted at Kempton in 2022 before injury intervened, so that tells us that Mullins thinks the demands of this race will suit his two-time Ryanair Chase winner.
The main issue with Allaho is his age. He’ll be a 10-year-old by the time the 2023 race comes around and only two horses aged 10 or above have won the King George this century.
Galopin Des Champs is the younger of the pair and he has the world at his feet at this stage of his career.
His clash with Bravemansgame in the 2023 Gold Cup very much told of who is the top dog in the staying chasing sphere.
He would surely be inclined to stick to the same itinerary with his star stayer next season, which means he wouldn’t be in the reckoning for Kempton.
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