Horse Racing on Boxing Day 2025 – Everything You Need to Know

by Roy Brindley, 25 December 2025

In terms of turnstile takings and betting turnover, Boxing Day is one of the most valuable days on horse racing’s calendar.

Leopardstown is one of many tracks that will be filled to capacity on December 26th. ©Getty

Key Facts:

• Kempton Park’s King George VI Chase is racing fans’ biggest Christmas present.
• Eight UK Boxing Day meetings, including Fontwell in the south and Sedgefield in the north.
• Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal are racing in Ireland on December 26.

For racing fans, December 26 is Christmas, and Kempton Park’s King George VI Chase is the biggest present of them all. The three-mile contest is the second most important steeplechase in the British Isles, second only to Cheltenham’s Gold Cup in the prestige stakes.

Previous winners include the beloved 1980s star, Desert Orchid. The dashing grey, once considered a national treasure, won the contest four times. His record was surpassed by Kauto Star, who claimed the race five times between 2006 and 2011.

Other famous horses to have won the contest include The Fellow, Best Mate and Arkle. This trio completed National Hunt racing’s big double by also landing the Gold Cup. This year, the connections of Fact To File and Gaelic Warrior have genuine big-race double aspirations.

Will There Be a Future Star in the Kauto Star?

Racegoers at Kempton Park’s Boxing Day meeting will also have the chance to see stars of tomorrow in action with the Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices’ Chase, due off at 1.20 pm, never failing to produce a brilliant winner. Long Run and Gold Cup winner, Coneygree, are amongst the list of previous winners.

Complementing two outstanding chase races is the Grade-1 Christmas Hurdle. It is a race won by a Nicky Henderson-trained horse 11 times in the past 15 years. In the absence of three-time winner Constitution Hill – a horse that has spent more time on the floor than in the winner’s enclosure recently – Henderson’s Sir Gino is the one online betting sites favour.

🟡⚫️ I'd be very interested in SIR GINO if he was to go down the Champion Hurdle route.

👍 Unbeaten in 5 starts over hurdles, including two Grade 1s.

🤕 Given his issues, you'd imagine it is a genuine option – easier to keep a horse sound over hurdles.pic.twitter.com/vyXv4nD6L0

— Road To Cheltenham (@RoadCheltenham) November 30, 2025

Eight Meetings on Racing’s Busiest Day

There are seven other British racecourses – between Fontwell Park in the south and Sedgefield in the north – that are scheduled to race on December 26. Aintree, Market Rasen, Wetherby, Wincanton and Wolverhampton complete the busiest days racing on the British calendar.

Racegoers at Aintree will be treated to Grade-1 action with the Formby Novices’ Hurdle being a popular addition to the Liverpool circuit’s list of big races since Boxing Day 2023, when Jango Baie scored for horse racing’s equivalent of Santa Claus, Nicky Henderson.

Market Rasen’s showpiece contest on Boxing Day will be the Lincolnshire National – a three-mile three-furlong contest over 19 fences. Racing at Wincanton is sure to be competitive, and the course has already announced that its Premier Enclosure is sold out.

It’s Festival Time in Leopardstown

In Ireland, Leopardstown, Limerick and Down Royal are all racing on December 26, a day known locally as St. Stephen’s Day. While Down Royal’s card features a wide variety of race types, it is unlikely that the meeting will throw up a star of the future.

That is not the case for Leopardstown. Boxing/Stephen’s Day is the first day of its four-day Christmas Festival, and it is packed full of star talent aiming to collect major silverware en-route to the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The feature race on December 26 is the Grade-1 Racing Post Novice Chase – a contest regularly won by the Willie Mullins yard. There is also a Grade-2 Juvenile Hurdle on the card. Unusually, Mullins has just one horse amongst this race’s early entries – meaning the chances of Narciso Has should be taken very seriously.

Numerically, Gordon Elliott has the strongest hand in Limerick’s feature race – the Grade-2 Defender Novice Hurdle. Responsible for seven of the 16 entries in the line-up, it will be fascinating to see what horse or horses he decides to run, and how they perform.