Boxing Day at Kempton has a particular kind of electricity. The stands are packed with post‑Christmas racing fans, the air is frosty, and that three‑mile Grade 1 feels as close to mid‑season championship racing as you get over fences.
In 2025, The Jukebox Man turned that theatre into a proper thriller, carrying Harry Redknapp’s colours to victory in one of the most dramatic King George finishes in recent memory.
Ben Pauling’s gelding spent most of the race stalking the bold‑jumping Il Est Francais before moving into the heat of battle turning for home, with four horses still in with a chance approaching the last.
Headed narrowly after the final fence, he dug in on the run‑in, showing reserves of grit, and after a tense photo finish he was called the winner by a nose from Banbridge, with Gaelic Warrior another nose away and Jango Baie half a length further back.
It was a first King George for both trainer Ben Pauling and jockey Ben Jones, clocked in a winning time just under six minutes, and widely hailed as a vintage renewal of Kempton’s Boxing Day highlight.
For connections, it was the moment a previously smart staying chaser announced himself as a bona fide top‑table player in the staying division.
The Season That Made A King George Winner
You don’t usually arrive at Kempton on Boxing Day and win a race of that depth by accident, but for all the running he did, his season was actually very short with only one previous run in the Graduation Chase at Haydock.
Pauling had campaigned him with a clear view to three‑mile Grade 1s, stepping him up in class gradually so he was prepared but without being bottomed out by spring.
The King George itself came off the back of the Haydock win where he had beaten Iroko by 2½ lengths.
It was enough to send him off at odds of 7/1 with the two joint-favourites, Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie, finishing in third and fourth position.
And just as racing fans increasingly use comparisons of online casino sites to sniff out better bonuses and sharper prices, plenty quickly started scouring the antepost odds for this year’s race. But first came Cheltenham.
From Kempton to Cheltenham: His Gold Cup Test
For any staying chaser, the natural question after winning the King George is simple: what happens in the Gold Cup?
Connections of The Jukebox Man duly pointed him at Cheltenham, testing him over the stiffer course, deeper field, and that searching climb to the line which has broken many Kempton specialists.
Cheltenham’s Gold Cup asks slightly different questions than Kempton. The undulations, the long run to the final fence, and the attritional nature of the race can expose horses who rely more on speed than stamina.
For The Jukebox Man, his Gold Cup run was about proving he could translate King George brilliance onto the most demanding staying stage, and even if he didn’t emerge as the division’s undisputed number one, he showed he belonged in the same conversation as the established stars.
Unfortunately, it was not to be, and Gaelic Warrior got his revenge by absolutely running away with the race, leaving Jango Baie eight lengths back in second place and The Jukebox Man languishing over 30 lengths behind in 8th place.
Harry Redknapp
Having Harry Redknapp in the winner’s enclosure gave the 2025 King George a crossover appeal few staying chases enjoy.
The former Premier League manager has long been a racing enthusiast, but Kempton’s result pushed him, in his own words, into the “Champions League” of ownership as he celebrated the Grade 1 success over Christmas.
Redknapp’s background in elite football management gives him a natural flair for narrative and a nose for big‑occasion pressure, and that has dovetailed neatly with Ben Pauling’s quietly ambitious training operation.
In interviews after the race, he spoke about the thrill of seeing The Jukebox Man dig in and fight back in a three‑way photo, underlining how much the horse’s attitude, not just his ability, appeals to him as an owner.
But will he get the chance to do it all over again in 2026?
The 2026 King George
As we look ahead to December 26th, 2026, the King George VI Chase remains one of the most important and competitive staying chases in the British calendar.
Antepost, The Jukebox Man is trading around 8/1 to retain his crown, which positions him as a respected player but not the market leader. That honour goes to Gaelic Warrior, and that is to be expected from Willie Mullins’ stable star.
On the plus side, The Jukebox Man already has proven course‑and‑distance credentials, Grade 1 winning form, and is backed by a trainer who has shown he can peak him for the big days.
The experience of a Gold Cup campaign should have toughened him up mentally, and his battling nature in that 2025 photo finish suggests that if he arrives at Kempton in similar form, he’ll again be hard to keep out of the frame.
The risks underlying that 8/1 quote are the usual ones: how he comes out of his autumn and early‑winter runs, what new Irish challengers emerge, and whether any younger British stayers step forward to challenge the established hierarchy.
From a punting perspective, he looks the type to make a strong each‑way case at current prices, with scope to shorten if his pre‑Christmas form confirms that the Kempton magic of 2025 was the beginning of a sustained top‑class run rather than a one‑off Christmas story.
