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Run over three miles at Kempton Park, the King George VI Chase was inaugurated in February 1937 and named in honour of the new monarch, King George VI, who ascended the throne following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, the previous December. However, the King George VI Chase has been the Boxing Day highlight at the Sunbury-on-Thames course since 1947. Its roll of honour includes the likes of Arkle, Kauto Star, Mill House, Burrough Hill Lad and Long Run, all of whom feature in the top-ten highest-rated steeplechasers of the Timeform era.

In fact, the last-named won the King George VI Chase twice, in 2010 and 2012, and was ridden on both occasions by Sam Waley-Cohen who, at the time of writing, remains the only amateur jockey to win the race. Owned by his father, Robert, and trained by Nicky Henderson, Long Run comfortably won the hastily-arranged 2010 renewal, actually run on January 15, 2011, beating the odds-on favourite Kauto Star into third place. Three months later, again ridden by Waley-Cohen, he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, beating Denman and Kauto Star, again, thereby making his jockey the first amateur since Jim Wilson, in 1981, to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event.

Waley-Cohen and Long Run returned to Kempton Park to win the King George VI Chase again in 2012, leading in the final strides to beat Captain Chris by a neck. In a ‘fairytale’ end to his riding career, having announced his retirement two days before the 2022 Grand National, Waley-Cohen won that race on another horse owned by his father, Noble Yeats. Thus, he retired not only as the only amateur jockey ever to win the King George VI Chase, but also the only amateur jockey ever to win both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National.

The 2024 horse racing calendar is about to ramp up, with some stellar meetings throughout the entirety of the festive period providing plenty to get excited about. On boxing day, the King George VI Chase will take centre stage at Kempton, a race that Il Est Francais has been made a 3/1 frontrunner to win. The following day, it’s the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow, another marquee event on the festive sporting calendar.

As the season continues, three frontrunners have emerged to claim the British Jump Jockey Championship, while horse racing’s popularity continues to soar to never-before-seen heights.

The Rise of Horse Racing Popularity

In recent years, horse racing has captured the interest of a broader audience thanks to investment from countries in the Arabian Gulf, as well as the continued success of marquee showdowns such as the Grand National and the Cheltenham Festival. This surge in attention has prompted online bookmakers to invest even more in their racing offering, making virtual horse racing available to their punters around the clock.

This relatively new addition allows fans to engage with the sport anytime and anywhere. This innovation not only caters to seasoned racing enthusiasts but also attracts new fans eager to experience the excitement of getting closer to the race track than ever before. Bookies provide round-the-clock updates on their virtual horses results, and if they are anything similar to the results seen in real life, then one will notice three jockeys standing out from the crowd with more wins than the rest.

With that being said, let’s meet the two jockeys that have piled up the wins this term and explore their chances of winning the jockey championship this season.

A brilliant finish to the Boodles Rising Stars Novices’ Chase as Boombawn wears down Soul Icon under a great ride from Harry Skelton@harryskelton89 | @DSkeltonRacing pic.twitter.com/7OItDpF3K2

— Wincanton Racecourse (@wincantonraces) November 9, 2024

Harry Skelton

Harry Skelton’s prowess on the track is evident with his impressive record this season. With 78 wins from 298 runs, the 35-year-old showcases a striking strike rate that marks him as a formidable contender. Highlights of his season include a thrilling victory with Getawhisky at Carlisle, where he manoeuvred with class to secure the win.

Equally as impressive was his performance on board Boombawn at Wincanton in a Grade 2 chase that demonstrated his ability to deliver under pressure, taking full advantage of short-priced favourite Insurrection’s poor run to claim the victory. Now, Skelton has positioned himself as the jockey to beat, while trainer Dan Skelton is also well positioned in the trainer’s championship as well.

Sean Bowen

Sean Bowen’s journey this season has been nothing short of spectacular. Capturing 75 wins from 432 runs, he has proven that he is not just a participant but a true competitor in every race. One of his standout performances was with Pyramid Place at Kempton Park, where his strategic approach clinched a resounding win. Last season, Bowen amassed a total of 157 winners, including two prestigious Grade One victories and a memorable triumph at the Aintree Festival. Similar form throughout the rest of the 2024/25 season could throw a spanner into Team Skelton’s hopes of a championship clean sweep.

The short answer is no, she hasn’t. Amanda Perret (née Harwood) does, in fact, have two Group 1 victories to her name, but both came at Longchamp in Paris, France and both were provided by the Grand Lodge colt Indian Lodge. A top-class miler, Indian Lodge won the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on September 3, 2000 and, dropped back to seven furlongs, the Prix de la Foret on October 15, 2000.

On British soil, Perret has saddled five Group 2 winners, namely the aforementioned Indian Lodge in the Sandown Mile in 2000, Tillerman in the Celebration Mile at Goodwood in 2002, Baron’s Pit in the Diadem Stakes at Newmarket in 2005, Tungsten Strike in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown in 2006 and, much more recently, Lavender’s Blue, in the Celebration Mile, again, in 2021. She is based at at Coombleands Stables in Pulborough, West Sussex, from whence her father, Guy Harwood, sent out 30 Group 1 winners, not least one of the best colts since World War II, Dancing Brave.

Assisted by her husband, former jockey Mark, Perrett took over the licence at Coombelands following the retirement of her father at the end of the 1996 Flat season. In late 2021, alongside her sister Lucinda, who is married to jockey Jim Crowley, she became a partner in Coombeland Equestrian, founded 15 years earlier by their sister Gaye, who tragically died in a road accident in 2019. In 2924 so far, she has sent out fewer runners (65, at the time of writing) than in any other full season of her training career.

In short, John Durkan was a successful amateur rider and, subsequently, assistant trainer to Oliver Sherwood and John Gosden, who died of leukaemia in January 1998, aged 30. He is commemorated by the John Durkan Memorial Chase, run at Punchestown in December and thus renamed in the year of his death.

Born in February 1967 and raised on the family farm in Glencullen, County Dublin, John Durkan was the son of Bill Durkan, who was credited as the trainer of the remarkable mare Analogs Daughter, winner of the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in 1980. As a jockey, John Durkan rode 93 winners rules, including Run And Skip and Brown Windsor in hunter chases, before becoming pupil assistant to Charlie Brooks, in Lambourn, Berkshire in 1986.

Fast forward a decade or so and, after two years as assistant trainer to Gosden, Durkan decided to take out a training licence in his own right. By that stage of his career, he had already acquired the historic Green Lodge Stables in Newmarket from the retiring Harry Thomson ‘Tom’ Jones and bought Istabraq for 38,000 guineas on behalf of owner J.P. McManus.

Oliver Sherwood said of his former assistant, “If he can’t make it as a trainer, no one will.” Sadly, those words proved improvident, because Durkan fell ill towards the end of 1996 and Istabraq – who would, of course, win the Champion Hurdle three years running, in 1998, 1999 and 2000 – was transferred to Aidan O’Brien.