Outside of the Cheltenham Festival, days of racing are rarely as exciting and frenetic as Boxing Day. There are 11 meetings in Britain and Ireland in all on the day, with Grade 1 action at three different tracks.
GG tipster Joe Napier has focused on the domestic racing for his best bets on Boxing Day, as he has selections at Kempton, Aintree & Wincanton, including a two-point win selection for the 2025 edition of the King George VI Chase.
Aintree Racing Tips (Friday 26 December 2025)
Aintree’s Boxing Day card may not have the history of Kempton’s, but it does now boast the Grade 1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle. However, it is in two of their handicaps in which our best bets on the card will run.
12.30 Aintree – Minella Drama (1pt e/w – 6/1)
Catching Minella Drama fresh has been the key to landing a successful bet on Donald McCain’s charge, as is finding him racing at Aintree. Last season’s record of 1P9P demonstrates this, as he won the Old Roan Chase on return on Merseyside, then lost his form completely elsewhere. The hope here is that although he has already made his reappearance back in the Old Roan, when improving again to be third off a 1lb higher mark, that the 61-day break he has had since will freshen up the ten-year-old enough in calmer waters here. This is a much weaker race than the Old Roan, with both Prairie Wolf and Inedit Star difficult to win with, Heltenham possessing a poor Aintree record, and Josh The Boss having only won a four-runner race so far over fences. This could be exactly the time to catch Minella Drama, who may not have too many better chances to win a race at this stage of his career.
1.40 Aintree – Dedicated Hero (0.5pt e/w – 10/1)
The improving Bear Market has to be respected in his search for a four-timer, but Dedicated Hero could prove a worthy adversary here in opposition. Sandy Thomson’s six-year-old won a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Haydock last term, improving from race to race after being a beaten odds-on shot on his hurdling debut. By the end of the season, he was a highly competitive fifth under a penalty in a strong Listed novice event at Perth and his two runs this season are forgivable, as he would likely have needed his reappearance at Carlisle, then finished a respectable seventh behind a runaway winner in the Greatwood Hurdle. He is down 3lb in the handicap across those two starts, but looks likely to appreciate this intermediate 2m4f trip, which he is yet to try, and looks a good bet for each-way purposes in this eight-runner field.
Wincanton Racing Tips (Friday 26 December 2025)
Wincanton’s six-race card features a race with Cheltenham Festival implications in the Pertemps Qualifier, but it is an earlier handicap which hosts our best bet at the meeting on Boxing Day.
2.03 Wincanton – Pilsdon Pen (1pt win – 7/1)
Course specialist Pilsdon Pen has an outstanding record at Wincanton for Jeremy Scott and more could yet be forthcoming stepping up to 3m1f for the first time in his career in this contest. The eight-year-old’s form figures at the track read 11211, the latter four figures coming over fences as he has won three times over 2m4f at the Somerset venue. The most recent victory came on his return earlier this month and given he is not a horse with a great record fresh, that win is especially promising for his chances here and he is only up 2lb in the weights. He stayed on stoutly to win that day, as he has in the past, beating some up-and-coming rivals, so could well go in again at his most beloved track.
Kempton Racing Tips (Friday 26 December 2025)
The highlight of all the sport on Boxing Day, let alone the racing, is the King George VI Chase, and we have a confident selection for the big race.
2.30 Kempton – Fact To File (2pt win – 7/2)
The strength of this year’s King George VI Chase is emphasised by the fact that last year’s one-two Banbridge and Il Est Francais, are both available at 16/1 and neither is fancied to repeat those efforts among this line-up. All of Djelo, Jango Baie and The Jukebox Man have realistic chances for British trainers, but not only do they face the might of Willie Mullins but also two of his best chasers in training in Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File, who were first and second in an extraordinary running of the John Durkan Chase last time out. The pair blitzed away from their rivals that day, with the former narrowly beating the latter, but it is Fact To File who is selected to gain revenge at Kempton. The Ryanair Chase hero may not stay the full trip in a Gold Cup, but the King George’s flat 3m jumping test should be absolutely tailor-made for him, with Il Est Francais’ front-running likely to set up the race perfectly for him and potentially inconvenience Gaelic Warrior. The suspicion is that the John Durkan may have taken more out of his stablemate too and a reversal of that form is expected, as is that the two of them will prove a class apart from their six rivals.
GG Boxing Day Racing Tips – Friday 26 December
12.30 Aintree – Minella Drama (1pt e/w – 6/1)
1.40 Aintree – Dedicated Hero (0.5pt e/w – 10/1)
2.03 Wincanton – Pilsdon Pen (1pt win – 7/1)
2.30 Kempton – Fact To File (2pt win – 7/2)
Today’s Meetings & Start Times
- Aintree- first race 12:00
- Kempton – first race 12:45
- Wincanton – first race 12:53
FAQs: Today’s Racing Tips
What are GG’s Boxing Day tips?
Joe Napier provides GG’s Boxing Day tips on Friday 26 December from Kempton, Aintree & Wincanton.
When were Boxing Day’s Kempton, Aintree & Wincanton tips published?
Our Boxing Day tips were published at 12.20pm on Tuesday 23 December.
Who is Joe Napier?
Joe Napier is the deputy editor of GG who gives tips and opinion throughout the week. He has been writing for GG for over four years and is hugely passionate about racing.
Commercial notice: This article on GG.co.uk contains affiliate links. The offers we promote come from operators that we trust and our experts have first-hand experience dealing with. If you open an account through one of these affiliate links then GG will earn revenue. However, we ensure that the money earned goes back into improving and enhancing our coverage of horse racing and other sports, as we look to provide an excellent service to our growing audience.