Home / The latest sports news with betting.co.uk / Ginger Joe Betting Tips and Picks / Ginger Joe - My Christmas 2023 Racing Review

Ginger Joe - My Christmas 2023 Racing Review

Ginger Joe

TwitterYoutubeFacebook

Expert Punter

Publish Date: 18/01/2024

Fact checked by: James Leeland

Key Points

Post-Christmas racing review
All of the Grade 1s dissected
Three ante post selections for the 2024 Cheltenham Festival

Post-Christmas racing review - all of the Grade 1s dissected

For the benefit of anyone who was out of the loop over the festive season, I have put together a video, together with my usual wingmen, Jaime Wrenn and Scotty Ruderham, to review the best of the Christmas racing action.

We were treated to some incredible racing over the festive period and in this extended episode we go through all of the big races, bringing you our views and our favourite performances, then finishing up with some ante post picks for the 2024 Cheltenham Festival

Talking of which, we really haven’t got long to wait until the Festival, less than 70 days in fact, so it’s starting to get real now and more in-depth Cheltenham Festival content will be headed your way very soon.

A tasty Ladbrokes free bet offer for you

Courtesy of my friends at Ladbrokes, I have a fantastic sign up offer for you. If you bet £5, you can get £20 in free bets. What better way to try out our ante post selections for this week.

Christmas is over, but the racing goes down in history

During this feature-length episode of the Ginger Joe Sports Show, I sat down with the lads to discuss all of the Christmas racing action. We started with Kempton on Boxing Day, where there were three Grade 1s, but the main focus of our discussion was the feature race, the King George VI Chase. The race was full of late drama, with an epic finish and it really was a brilliant spectacle to watch.

eyond that, we also ran through some of the other incredible performances we witnessed over the festive season and it really is worth checking out the full episode to hear everything about those. Towards the end, our chat naturally turned towards the upcoming Cheltenham Festival and each of us came up with a double-figure ante post selection for you.

Some big performances over the festive season

There is no doubt that we’ve been treated to some superb action over the Christmas period and in case you happened to miss them, I thought you’d enjoy a quick review of some highlight racing moments before you get tuned in to the video.

Boxing Day 27 December 2023 – The King George VI Chase – Grade 1

On Boxing Day we were treated to a superb, action-packed renewal of the King George, where Shishkin looked to have the race at his mercy – until unseating Nico just after the second last fence. Now would he have gone on to win the race? Well this is something myself and the lads discuss in full detail in this episode.

But let us take nothing away from the mighty Hewick, the eventual winner. He only cost 800 quid, but has now won an American Grand National and the King George, so his CV is pretty fantastic to say the least. At the end of the day, jumping is the name of the game, which he is masterful at, but he also finished with a wicked turn of foot to win the race at a big price.

28 December 2023 – The Welsh Grand National – G3 Handicap Chase

The fun didn’t end on Boxing Day, as the following day we had the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow to look forward to. There’s more about this race in my video, but suffice to say that Nassalam put in a huge performance to win by a street. He really was a bit babyish this time last year, but he is definitely finding his feet and becoming a really good Chaser now. I’m sure that he will only continue to improve even more from here.

28 December 2023 – The Savill’s Chase – Grade 1

For me, the most amazing performer of the Christmas period was Galopin Des Champs, who established himself as the best Staying Chaser on the planet, when he absolutely demolished Gerri Colombe at Leopardstown, beating him by a massive 23 lengths. I absolutely cannot see GDC getting beaten at Cheltenham now. The markets have taken a huge shake up, but it’s all getting very exciting indeed.