ALLAHO is set to go off favourite for the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton on December 26th.

The Willie Mullins-trained gelding is one of three Irish-trained horses among the eight left in the Christmas feature at Wednesday's confirmation stage. Final declarations will be made on Saturday, December 23rd.

A wide-margin winner of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in 2021 and 2022 - as well as the three-mile Punchestown Gold Cup in 2022 - Allaho missed the entire 2022-'23 season but made an impressive return to action at Clonmel last month.

Mullins has won the King George on two previous occasions - with Florida Pearl in 2001 and with Tornado Flyer in 2021.

Allaho is set to be joined at Kempton by fellow Irish hopefuls Gerri Colombe and Hewick. Trained by Gordon Elliott, Gerri Colombe is among the favourites for the 2023 Cheltenham Gold Cup following his battling performance in the Grade 1 Down Royal Champion Chase last month. Hewick was a prolific winner for trainer Shark Hanlon between October 2021 and April 2023, landing big pots at Sedgefield, Sandown (twice), Galway and New Jersey, but he has been off the track since finishing down the field in the Galway Plate last August.

Last year's King George winner Bravemansgame is second favourite currently with sponsors Ladbrokes, while Shishkin is fourth favourite.

Shishkin's trainer Nicky Henderson expects the horse to run well at Kempton, despite his high-profile refusal to race at Ascot last month.

Henderson said: “I’ve been saying all along I don’t see how you can win a King George without a race and the answer is you can’t. On the other hand, we have got nowhere else to go as there isn’t another race until the Cotswold Chase. If I ran him at Sandown I would have bottomed him and he wouldn’t go to the King George, so therefore I had to take him home and run him straight in this.

“Having said that he has been going, for him, really well, and his schooling the other morning was fantastic. I’m not going to sit here and tell you he can win a King George, but I do think he can run very well.

“He is the sort of forgotten person in the race, and no one has mentioned him. The only thing I would say is don’t judge him on this because I think it is very unfair coming into a race like this without a run.

“It doesn’t mean there aren’t bigger and better things to come. He might run very well and not quite get home (in front).”

While nothing is guaranteed in racing Henderson is confident there will be no repeat of his Ascot antics down at the start of the King George after taking steps to ensure a similar scenario will not occur. 

Henderson added: “George (Daly, assistant trainer) will go down to the start with him as he knows him really well. We can’t do anything else.

“Charlie Brooks mentioned a hunting horn, but Barney (Clifford, Clerk of the Course at Kempton Park) won’t let me get up a tree and blow it!”

In addition to his regular work on the Seven Barrows handler’s gallops Shishkin has also benefited from a spell with 2012 London Olympics team eventing silver medallist, and Cheltenham Racecourse committee member, Zara Tindall. 

Stable companion Constitution Hill will need to return “as good as ever” in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle on the same card, according to Henderson.

Last season’s Champion Hurdle hero will make his eagerly awaited return to action in the Grade 1 contest, which he claimed 12 months ago by 17 lengths from now-retired stablemate Epatante, after plans to run in the Fighting Fifth were dashed by the weather. 

With the initial race at Newcastle falling victim to the weather, Constitution Hill was then declared a non-runner due to the ground in the rescheduled renewal of the Grade One contest at Sandown Park, which was won by the Hughie Morrison-trained Not So Sleepy.

Henderson said: “You couldn’t run at Sandown and Kempton. It was physically not possible. You knew straight away you were going to have to sacrifice one race for the other. We decided we would stick to the original plan. 

“I wasn’t going to put him in at Sandown until the very last minute. I had already said to Michael ‘I don’t think this will work’, but he said ‘let’s see’.

“You could not have possibly run in both races and that is what some people fail to understand. That is the only thing I find frustrating. 

“Of course, it is frustrating when you drag him all the way to Newcastle and back again. That was bad luck. That was the original plan and that is where he would have been, and we would have been on the same leg as last year. Unfortunately, we are not. 

“He was ready for Newcastle, and he is ready for Kempton. He is big, well and strong. He came in looking very well. At one stage I was a bit behind as he was so big. He took a bit longer to get the shape back into him, but that is long gone.

“He has had to do a bit more work as it is all very easy to him. His schooling is unbelievable. 

“We have got to get out there and he has got to go through the motions. He has got to be as good as he ever was at Kempton, then we can look forward.

“Constitution Hill could go to Kempton, Cheltenham, for the Unibet International Hurdle which they have stuck in on Festival Trials Day, then Cheltenham and Aintree.

“I would be tempted with Ireland (at the Punchestown Festival) but you have to be careful of the ground at that time of the year.

“He won’t go to Ireland (for the Dublin Racing Festival), definitely not, but I won’t look forward until Kempton is over.”

KEMPTON, DECEMBER 26th

Current going: Good to Soft

12:45pm Ladbrokes Boost Your Odds On Racing Novices' Limited Handicap Chase 2m 4f 110y

Blow Your Wad (IRE) 5 Mr Jerry Hinds & Mr Ashley Head Tom Lacey Stan Sheppard

Es Perfecto (IRE) 8 Mrs Liz Prowting Alan King

General Medrano (IRE) 6 Elite Racing 003 Emma Lavelle

Idalko Bihoue (FR) 5 Anne-Marie & Jamie Shepperd Nigel Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies

Kotmask (FR) 5 Aura Racing Gary Moore

Martator (FR) 6 Camilla Norton Venetia Williams Charlie Deutsch

Off To A Flyer (IRE) 6 Mrs Mary-Ann Middleton and Mr J P Romans Joe Tizzard Brendan Powell

Outlaw Peter (IRE) 7 The Stewart Family,Dench,Ferguson&Mason Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden

Persian Time 5 McNeill Family & Stone Family Nicky Henderson

Russian Ruler (IRE) 6 Unique Financial Racing Partnership Nicky Henderson

Supreme Gift (IRE) 6 Sir T. Pilkington & Mr R. A. Pilkington Henry Daly

1:20pm Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices' Chase (In Memory of Nigel Clark) (Grade 1) 3m

Giovinco (IRE) 6 Thunder Holdings Ltd & The Young Ones Lucinda Russell Stephen Mulqueen

Grangeclare West (IRE) 7 Cheveley Park Stud W. P. Mullins Ireland

Hermes Allen (FR) 6 Sir A Ferguson G Mason J Hales & J Diver Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden

Il Est Francais (FR) 5 Kelvin-Hughes & Haras De St Voir N. George & A. Zetterholm France James Reveley

Imagine (FR) 5 Caldwell Construction Ltd Gordon Elliott Ireland

Kilbeg King (IRE) 8 M.R.Chapman, E.Jones & H.Kingston Anthony Honeyball Sam Twiston-Davies

Klassical Dream (FR) 9 Mrs J Coleman W. P. Mullins Ireland

Marble Sands (FR) 7 DL Adams, JA Adams & G McPherson David Killahena & Graeme McPherson Brendan Powell

Tightenourbelts (IRE) 6 Salvo & Alex Giannini, A Gemmell Emma Lavelle

1:55pm Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle (Grade 1) 2m

Black Poppy 7 West Coast Haulage Limited Kerry Lee Liam Harrison

Constitution Hill 6 Mr Michael Buckley Nicky Henderson Nico de Boinville

First Street 6 Lady Bamford & Alice Bamford Nicky Henderson

Nemean Lion (GER) 6 Mr Will Roseff Kerry Lee

Rubaud (FR) 5 Chris Giles & Brendan McManus Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden

Sceau Royal (FR) 11 Mr Simon Munir & Mr Isaac Souede Alan King

Latest Ladbrokes odds: 1/5 Constitution Hill; 5 Rubaud; 8 Nemean Lion; 16 Sceau Royal; 18 First Street; 40 Black Poppy

2:30pm Ladbrokes King George VI Chase (Grade 1) 3m

Allaho (FR) 9 11 10 Cheveley Park Stud W. P. Mullins Ireland

Bravemansgame (FR) 8 11 10 Bryan Drew Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden

Frodon (FR) 11 11 10 Mr P. J. Vogt Paul Nicholls Bryony Frost

Gerri Colombe (FR) 7 11 10 Robcour Gordon Elliott Ireland

Hewick (IRE) 8 11 10 Mr T. J. McDonald John Joseph Hanlon Ireland

Royale Pagaille (FR) 9 11 10 Mrs S. Ricci Venetia Williams Charlie Deutsch

Shishkin (IRE) 9 11 10 Mrs J Donnelly Nicky Henderson Nico de Boinville

The Real Whacker (IRE) 7 11 10 Neville, Mann, Duffus, Dennis-Price Patrick Neville

Latest Ladbrokes odds: 7/4 Allaho; 5/2 Bravemansgame; 9/2 Gerri Colombe; 11/2 Shishkin; 10 Royale Pagaille, The Real Whacker; 16 Hewick; 33 Frodon

3:05pm ladbrokeslive.co.uk To Win Free Music Tickets Maiden Hurdle 2m

Arthurian Fable (IRE) 6 Mrs Perle O'Rourke Richard Bandey

Balhambar (FR) 4 Peter Trainor Michael Bell

Court In The Act (IRE) 4 Heart of the South Racing 132 Harry Derham Paul O'Brien

Dancing In Brazil 4 James & Jean Potter Ltd Alan King

Gentleman's Relish (IRE) 4 Lindsey Nash & The Famous Five Nicky Henderson

King of The Road (IRE) 4 Rocco's Rebels Ben Pauling

Kotari (FR) 4 Heart of the South Racing 134 Gary Moore

Moon Chime 5 DL Adams, JA Adams & G McPherson David Killahena & Graeme McPherson

Onethreefivenotout (IRE) 7 The Stewart Family Paul Nicholls

Sea Invasion (IRE) 5 Mr Richard & Mrs Carol Cheshire Chris Gordon

Seattle King 4 Mr Trevor Johnson Phil McEntee Jack Quinlan

Selwan (IRE) 4 Andy Bell & Fergus Lyons Alan King

Soir de Gala (FR) 4 Mr John P. McManus Paul Nicholls

Support Act (IRE) 5 The M Team Toby Lawes

Thank You Ma'am 4 The Posh Pundit Syndicate Limited Georgina Nicholls

Too Much Hammer (IRE) 4 Mr Jerry Hinds & Mr Ashley Head Tom Lacey Stan Sheppard

Wee Tony (IRE) 5 Mr S Reddin & partner Ben Pauling

3:40pm Ladbrokes Get Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Hurdle 2m 5f

Artistic Endeavour 5 Mrs L.Bowtell & Mr P.Bowtell Tim Vaughan

Bear Ghylls (IRE) 8 Bradley Partnership Nicky Martin

Chance A Tune (FR) 8 Mr N. A. Twiston-Davies Nigel Twiston-Davies

Classic Lord (GER) 5 Mr R Cox & The Pant Wilkin Partnership Tim Vaughan

Emailandy (IRE) 5 The Brooks & Stewart Families Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden

Fable (FR) 8 Owners Group 078 Nicky Henderson

Kitty's Light 7 R J Bedford & All Stars Sports Racing Christian Williams Jack Tudor

Mahons Glory (IRE) 7 C Nightingale & Hold My Beer Partnership Patrick Neville

Mark of Gold 6 Stevie Fisher & Friends Gary Moore

Mary (IRE) 4 Eventmasters Racing Ian Williams Charlie Todd

Pounding Poet (IRE) 7 Mrs T. P. James Tom Lacey

Will Carver (IRE) 8 Owners Group 064 Nicky Henderson