The multiple King George VI Chase winners ranked: Including Wayward Lad, Desert Orchid and Kauto Star

Criteria to find the King of Kings

There have been 15 multiple winners of Kempton’s Christmas highlight, the Grade 1 King George VI Chase, and while the race hasn’t escaped challenges to its status as one of the crown jewels of the sport – failing to attract the cream of the Irish crop at this time of year is diluting its quality in this era of emerald dominance – its fabulous history is not in question.

But who is the King of Kempton at Christmas?

Two horses stand out a mile, and it won’t surprise anyone that they fill the top two spots, but with 13 other King George heroes having won the race more than once, I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane, taking in a panoramic view of the festive highlight through the lens of the many multiple winners.

Timeform ratings and leather-bound editions of Chasers & Hurdlers have been useful in putting together this list, as have all the books listed at the bottom of the page*, but those Timeform figures are not the defining factor here, with consistency, longevity, style and legacy also taken into account.

15. CLAN DES OBEAUX | 2018 & 2019 | Timeform Rating 170

It’s fitting we begin with a Paul Nicholls-trained horse. The master of Ditcheat has won the King George a record 13 times and Clan Des Obeaux isn’t even his last one with Frodon and Bravemansgame being crowned at Kempton subsequently. But Clan Des Obeaux is the last multiple winner of the King George, his victories in 2018 and 2019 coming by way of contrasting finishes; his first when cantering all over Thistlecrack and beating him a length-and-a-half, his second when easing clear of his field to the tune of 21 lengths.

Part-owned by legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Clan Des Obeaux’s defining performances arguably came away from Kempton, further weakening his appeal as a pure King George legend. His bloodless 26-length victory in the Grade 1 Betway Bowl at Aintree in 2021 (in first-time cheekpieces - Nicholls often utilises headgear to keep his grizzled staying chasers sweet later in their careers) and his verdict over two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Al Boum Photo at Punchestown three weeks later a spring double not to be forgotten.

14. SILVINIACO CONTI | 2013 & 2014 | Timeform Rating 172

There are many parallels between the careers of Clan Des Obeaux and his predecessor Silviniaco Conti. Nicholls won back-to-back Aintree Bowls with each horse as well as the two King Georges they both landed and the headgear trick that worked the oracle with Clan Des Obeaux was first utilised upon Silviniaco Conti, who won the Betfair Chase in first-time cheekpieces, followed by his second King George in the same headgear a month later, while he won a Betfair Ascot Chase in first-time blinkers, as well.

Silviniaco Conti was one of those King George winners, more of these later, that looked like non-stayers over the extra distance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but Nicholls always maintained he was a horse blessed in the stamina department. The way he overhauled the strong-travelling Cue Card in his first King George in 2013, a race in which he traded at 19.5 on Betfair having been sent off the 7/2 third favourite, certainly indicated that he might have a Gold Cup in him. He didn’t, but two King Georges amongst seven top-level wins was a fine return from a horse Nicholls squeezed the absolute maximum from in his career.

13. THE FELLOW | 1991 & 1992 | Timeform Rating 172

In the late 1980s and early 1990s French trainer Francois Doumen won the King George as many times as Desert Orchid, which was some going. A former amateur jockey and slalom skier, Doumen first won the King George in 1987 with Nupsala, while his fourth and fifth victories came thanks to Algan in 1994 and First Gold in 2000. It was his King George double with The Fellow, though, in 1991 and 1992, that earns him his place here, although the horse himself is just as well known for his rollercoaster journey in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

At Cheltenham The Fellow was a short-head second in his first two Gold Cup attempts, before he failed to justify 5/4 favouritism on his third go in 1993, 12 weeks after his second King George win, when he was beaten over nine lengths in fourth by Jodami. A year later he reversed that form to win his Gold Cup at 7/1 at the fourth attempt, and he’s remembered for that more than his King George triumphs, his second Kempton success, in particular, a six-length win at even-money over Pat’s Jester, considered one of the weaker renewals, certainly in this list.

12. MANDARIN | 1957 & 1959 | Timeform Rating N/A

What do The Fellow and Mandarin have in common? Yes, two King George wins each, but they are also the only two horses in history to have won both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris. Mandarin’s win in the latter race at Auteuil has gone down in racing folklore, Sir Mark Prescott nominating it as ‘The Greatest Ever Race’ in a Racing Post series after racing royalty Fred Winter rode him to victory despite ‘the horse’s rubber-covered snaffle bit having snapped in two approaching the fourth fence,’ while the horse reportedly strained the tendons in both of his forelegs during the race, as well. At the age of 11. No wonder it was his final act on a racecourse.

Also a dual winner of the Hennessy Gold Cup, four years apart, including the inaugural running in 1957, a pair of apt triumphs given his owner was Madame Hennessy of the French cognac family, it’s difficult to be certain the two King Georges were the highlights of his career. Fulke Walwyn clearly worked wonders with him, though, a fall in the 1958 Cheltenham Gold Cup, after which he suffered leg problems, not stopping him retain his King George crown in 1959 when he beat the previous year’s winner, Lochroe, by a length.

11. HALLOWEEN | 1952 & 1954 | Timeform Rating N/A

Fred Winter didn’t ride Mandarin to win a King George – Gerry Madden was in the saddle on both occasions – but he did win the Kempton highlight five times including three times as a jockey, the first two of which were on Halloween, the first horse to win the race twice. Arguably the first star equine name Winter was associated with, as well, he was paid a retainer of £500 a season to ride the horse and he more than earned that fee, winning nine times from 17 goes aboard Halloween – who won only once from eight races in the 1953/54 season when Winter was sidelined due to a broken leg sustained at Newton Abbot.

Halloween was placed in four consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups without winning, but he was happier on Kempton’s flat terrain. A winner four times from five goes at the Sunbury venue, he won his first King George at the age of seven in 1952 by a length from Mont Tremblant on rain-softened ground, complete with a ‘miraculous’ mid-air adjustment when taking off too early at an open ditch. Like plenty of the horses in this list, his legend was enhanced for having an old adversary; Galloway Braes, the pair meeting on nine occasions – a head-to head that Halloween won 7-2. Their defining clash came in the 1954 King George when Halloween, back with Winter on board, got to his fierce front-running rival at the final obstacle before powering away to win by six lengths.

10. KICKING KING | 2004 & 2005 | Timeform Rating 177

Amazing we’ve got this far in for the first mention of Arkle. The greatest steeplechaser of all time that he is, he only won the King George once and while he won it by a distance you’ve got to win multiple King Georges to get on this list. Sorry Arkle, them’s the rules. The King George proved bittersweet for ‘Himself’ as the 1966 renewal proved to be his last ever race after he fractured a pedal bone when jumping the open ditch, his class seeing him home in second despite the career-ending break. Jockey Pat Taaffe went on to train a stunning multiple King George winner in 1974 and 1975, more on him later, while his son, Tom Taaffe, upheld family honour 30 years after that thanks to a zestful son of Old Vic.

Kicking King’s first King George was a serene affair until the final fence, when, 10 lengths clear, he didn’t take off, Barry Geraghty doing extremely well to keep the partnership intact as he ploughed through the birch. Even then the drama wasn’t over, an errant ‘Santa’ crossing the Kempton track just in the nick of time, but Kicking King defied the chaos and had enough in hand to see off the staying-on Kingscliff.

Now the confirmed bright new young thing in the post-Best Mate era, a Cheltenham Gold Cup win came after that, arguably his finest hour, before he landed a second King George in a tight finish with Monkerhostin up the Sandown hill in 2005 when Kempton was being refurbished. Unfortunately, a tendon injury sustained during that race ensured two years on the sidelines and he was never to win again. Aged just seven when winning his second King George, he was a tremendous talent robbed of his peak years.

9. SILVER BUCK | 1979 & 1980 | Timeform Rating 175

Spoiler alert: Silver Buck is not the highest-ranked multiple King George winner trained by Michael Dickinson in this list. He was the first, though, and Silver Buck’s 1980 King George victory was the first big winner for Dickinson after he took over the licence from his father, Tony, earlier that year, sparking an incredible run of success from his northern Harewood base in the early 1980s. The feats were extraordinary, headlined by the world record 12 winners sent from his yard on Boxing Day, 1982, and then training the first five home three months later in the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup, when Silver Buck, the reigning champion, finished fourth amongst the quality quintet.

Owned by Mrs Christine Feather, William Haggas’ mother, and sold to her via Dickinson by the legendary Barney Curley, who spotted him in an Irish point-to-point, Silver Buck was all class on the track but a nervous soul off it. Spooked by the slightest thing and scared of hedges, the sound of Graham Bradley’s waterproofs at home in 1984 saw him take off and run into a stable block wall, sadly his last act. Yet on the racecourse he was so brave, a hugely popular horse, while his 1982 Gold Cup win proved once and for all that he stayed the 3m2f distance in testing ground, something that most King George winners are asked to go and show in their careers at some stage.

It wasn’t a given, as the flat track and three miles at Kempton suited him brilliantly, his fluent leaps in the straight under Tommy Carmody in his second King George in 1980 proving the difference between victory and defeat as the great Night Nurse, looking a real threat to his outside, unseated Alan Brown at the last having already made a bad mistake three out. There was to be no King George in 1981 due to a frozen track, with Silver Buck injured anyway, but he did get the chance for the hat-trick when sent off the even-money favourite in 1982, only to be denied by two horses - including a certain stablemate.

8. PENDIL | 1972 & 1973 | Timeform Rating 178

There are many Kempton specialists on this list, quite obviously, but arguably the first horse to forge a true bond with the Sunbury track was Fred Winter’s Pendil. He ended his career with nine wins from 13 races around Kempton Park, winning his first seven, landing his two King Georges at odds of 4/5 and 30/100, the first horse to win back-to-back renewals of the race. That he only beat eight opponents in his two King Georges in 1972 and ‘73, as well as a combined five in his two ‘Yellow Pages’ victories at the same track, was perhaps in part due to his fearsome reputation, but it is a reminder that small fields in jumps racing are not suddenly a modern phenomenon.

The Sporting Life newspaper declared Pendil ‘The King of Kempton’ as he amassed his outstanding record, a moniker that has also subsequently been bestowed upon the very best in this list. He had all the attributes to thrive on the flat terrain, his speed and exuberant jumping two of his finest assets, with jockey Richard Pitman explaining that the configuration of the track was just perfect for his horse: “He would pick up his bridle, lean into the rail and accelerate away to meet the first fence in the straight just right. Something about the curve of that bend was made for him,” he said in Michael Tanner’s book, The King George VI Steeplechase. No wonder he has a race at Kempton named after him.

Beaten by The Dikler in the 1973 Cheltenham Gold Cup, even though he might’ve traded at 1.01 in-running had the Betfair Exchange existed 50 years ago, Pendil always reserved his best for Kempton - a super weight-carrying performance in the Massey Ferguson aside. “I really believed Pendil to be the natural successor to Arkle,” said Pitman, only for him to finish second, beaten eight lengths, by the next heir apparent to Arkle in his King George hat-trick bid in 1974.

7. ONE MAN |1995 (1996) & 1996 | Timeform rating 179

If Pendil was the next Arkle, over 20 years later Gordon Richards’ One Man was the next Desert Orchid. A dashing grey who jumped for fun at his best, he was also extremely versatile regarding trip, winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase on his 34th career start – 33 races on from when he had last tried the two-mile distance. Only One Man and Edredon Bleu have won both a King George and a Champion Chase, the pair arguably responsible for many two-milers trying to stretch out to the King George distance subsequently. But it’s rare and it takes a special horse, as their achievements prove.

Also, a bit like Desert Orchid, One Man was nothing too flash over hurdles, but all of that changed when he saw a fence. A winner of his first five steeplechases, he went for the 1994 Sun Alliance Chase at the Cheltenham Festival as the 3/1 favourite only for mistakes to creep in now he had reached the highest level. A winner of the Hennessy after that, making his later transition to Champion Chaser even more remarkable, One Man’s first visit to Kempton saw him fall in handicap company in the old Racing Post Chase, ending his 1994-95 campaign prematurely.

Still a relatively young horse at the age of seven, One Man returned for the 1995-96 season better than ever, rattling off wins at Ayr and Haydock before he won the delayed King George, postponed due to a snowy and frosty Kempton, by 14 lengths in outstanding fashion at Sandown on January 6, 1996. He was to win two King Georges in the same calendar year, the second one at Kempton, the fall of Mr Mulligan at the last accentuating One Man’s dominance on this occasion, jockey Richard Dunwoody winning his fourth and final King George, further cementing the Dessie comparison.

6. LONG RUN | 2010 (2011) & 2012 | Timeform Rating 182

Of the 15 multiple King George winners five of them were awarded a rating of 180+ by Timeform and we come to the first of those now with Long Run, who won the 2010 King George (in the January of 2011) and the 2012 renewal, the latter his last major win at the age of seven. While the horses at the top of this list were blessed with longevity, Long Run was a horse who thrived as a youngster but whose star faded relatively quickly. Still, he burst on the scene amidst a golden era of staying chasers and his best was brilliant, very much deserving of a top-six slot amongst these champions.

Trained in France by Guillaume Macaire, he came to Britain with an already established reputation, even more so than Kauto Star had five years previously. Indeed, he hit the ground running, landing the Grade 1 Feltham Novices’ Chase by 13 lengths on his first run on British soil at Kempton’s 2009 King George fixture, a statement of intent if ever there was one on his first start for Nicky Henderson. His new trainer dropped him back to two miles for the Kingmaker at Warwick after that, successfully, before a third-place finish in the RSA Chase completed his novice campaign.

Then came the rivalry with Kauto Star. Long Run defied a couple of big mistakes on his way to the 2010 King George (run on January 15, 2011), the laboured champion back in third after bursting a blood vessel, before he upheld the form in a vintage Cheltenham Gold Cup in the March, beating other previous winners Denman and Imperial Commander in the process in a race for the ages. He couldn’t go back-to-back at Kempton, a revitalised Kauto Star ensuring that, but one last hurrah came in an attritional King George in 2012, a heavy ground brawl with Captain Chris seeing him prevail by a neck under Sam Waley-Cohen, the only amateur jockey ever to win the King George - and he did it twice.

5. SEE MORE BUSINESS | 1997 & 1999 | Timeform Rating 182

Right then, top five time and the horse that started it all for Paul Nicholls, See More Business. The first Ditcheat flagbearer, Nicholls’ first King George winner, his first Gold Cup winner and the first of his staying chasers to be rejuvenated by a pair of blinkers, See More Business was an old-fashioned staying chaser that dug deep into his reserves of stamina and had an iron will to win. First home on 18 occasions from 36 starts under Rules, Nicholls labelled him ‘the horse of a lifetime’ upon his horse’s retirement in 2003, but he wasn’t to know the great success that awaited him just around the corner.

See More Business would’ve been a horse of a lifetime for most trainers. Nicholls had him from the very beginning, winning point-to-points with him at Larkhill before he won by 15 lengths on his Rules debut in a novice hurdle at Chepstow under A P McCoy. Also ridden by Richard Dunwoody, Timmy Murphy, Joe Tizzard, Andrew Thornton and Ruby Walsh, See More Business was steered around the UK’s racecourses by half of the elite in the weighing room at the time, but it was Mick Fitzgerald that got the best out of him, the pair enjoying a record of seven wins from 11 races together including his Cheltenham Gold Cup and his second King George.

His first King George came under Thornton in 1997, that will to win and stamina in evidence as he saw off the strong-travelling Challenger Du Luc by a couple of lengths, but it was his second victory, two years later, that catapults him into the top five. In the blinkers he had first adorned in his Gold Cup victory nine months earlier, See More Business jumped like a buck in a powerful display, forging clear from his Cheltenham rival Go Ballistic to the tune of 17 lengths, a winning distance that didn’t flatter him on the day – Monday December 27, the last time the race was moved due to Boxing Day falling on a Sunday. It wasn’t the last wide-margin win of his career, but it was a defining performance and one that earned him that Timeform rating in the low 180s.

4. WAYWARD LAD | 1982, 1983 & 1985 | Timeform Rating 175

See More Business failed in his King George hat-trick bid at odds of 6/4 and fellow top tenners Silver Buck, Pendil, Long Run and One Man were all well beaten as they raced to win the Kempton highlight for a third time, as well. Indeed, only three horses have won the King George more than twice and the first we get to, and the first horse to achieve the feat, is the aforementioned Michael Dickinson’s Wayward Lad, winner in 1982, ’83 and ’85. A 1980s equine icon and another member of the Dickinson ‘Famous Five’, Wayward Lad’s achievements at Kempton more than made up for his five defeats in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he was most famously defeated by Dawn Run in the barnstorming 1986 renewal at the age of 11.

Wayward Lad might be the only horse in the top six not to attain a Timeform rating of 180+, but quality is measured in many ways and one cannot dispute this horse’s consistent excellence over a period of nine years. In 53 career runs he won 28 times on 16 different tracks and though he was 0/9 at Cheltenham that defeat to Dawn Run alone, conceding her 5lb, was evidence of his ability to act around Prestbury Park, for all that he never won there. What isn’t up for debate was his ability around Kempton, his longevity ensuring he participated in five King Georges, winning the three, before passing on the baton to a grey horse that defeated him in 1986.

In 1982 he got the better of a three-way tussle with Fifty Dollars More and stablemate Silver Buck under John Francome and in 1983 he justified 11/8 favouritism under Robert Earnshaw at the expense of Brown Chamberlain. Perhaps his most famous King George, though, was his history-making third at the age of 10 in 1985. Now in the care of Monica Dickinson with son Michael training Robert Sangster's Flat horses in Manton, Wayward Lad went to Kempton on the back of three defeats and with a point to prove as his starting price of 12/1 suggests. In heavy ground he bravely wrestled back his King George crown, holding off Combs Ditch by a neck, Timeform’s Chasers & Hurdlers from 1985-86 commenting: “If there was a more courageous performance during the season by a chaser we didn’t see it.”

3. CAPTAIN CHRISTY | 1974 & 1975 | Timeform Rating 182

It takes something special to muscle in on the trio that won the King George three times or more, but Captain Christy was just that. He didn’t win three or more King Georges and he didn’t have the longevity of all the other horses in this top five, but he had a streak of brilliance in 1974 and 1975 that was in evidence at Kempton on Boxing Day both years. His ascent to the top of the chasing tree was swift, Pat Taaffe training the son of Mon Capitaine to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice on just his seventh fencing start. He clattered the last at Cheltenham and still won by five lengths, but his most exceptional performance was reserved for Kempton.

Indeed, the jury was still out even after Captain Christy had won the Gold Cup as a novice. Pendil had been going very well at the time when brought down three from home at Cheltenham and that rare defeat was hardly a blemish on the exceptional record he had built given it was through no fault of his own. However, in Captain Christy’s first King George in 1974 he settled the argument once and for all, making all the running for an emphatic eight-length success over Pendil, a horse going for a King George hat-trick. Instead, he left defeated for just the third time in 21 fencing appearances, Captain Christy now the confirmed new kid on the block.

Yet the performance that earns him a top three slot here was still to come. A year on, Boxing Day 1975, the eight-year-old Captain Christy lined up under Gerry Newman, a jockey that would’ve been claiming 5lb were the race a handicap. The pair were simply electric, taking lengths out of the field at each fence, an unchallenged victory which was then achieved in track record time. The great Bula was beaten 30 lengths into second, good horses like Royal Marsh II, Game Spirit, Royal Relief and Bruslee beaten further in behind. “One of the great performances of steeplechasing history,” wrote Peter Willett in The Sporting Chronicle. “The most impressive display on this course since Arkle won the corresponding event in 1965,” said Len Thomas in a slightly more reserved The Sporting Life. It was such a shame injury prevented Captain Christy from winning another race, but his star burned bright at Kempton in the winter of 1975.

2. DESERT ORCHID | 1986, 1988, 1989 & 1990 | Timeform Rating 187

I can’t believe Desert Orchid isn’t number one in a list of multiple King George VI Chase winners. I can’t believe it because he was number one in the first draft. But after writing up the achievements of Kauto Star and revisiting his record-breaking fifth King George win I had to give myself a slap and do the right thing, one exceptional racehorse beaten by another. In truth, there’s very little between them. A mere 4lb on Timeform ratings, the odd King George here, the odd Cheltenham Gold Cup there. Both were adored by racing fans, both lit up Kempton at Christmas time and time again.

Desert Orchid had a name and a look and a style and a story like no other racehorse. He had an aversion for going left-handed but still won a Cheltenham Gold Cup. He carried enormous weights to win the Whitbread, Victor Chandler and Irish Grand National handicaps. He appeared on the front pages of the national newspapers, was mentioned on Spitting Image and in a survey conducted in the March of 1991 84% of those questioned had heard of Desert Orchid, making him more widely recognised than a number of public figures, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont, who used the point in the introduction to his Budget speech that spring. In the era of O’Connor and Lynam it was a D. Orchid who was the most famous Des.

His King Georges. He won his first at the age of seven by 15 lengths at 16/1 in 1986. The following year he was second to 25/1 chance Nupsala. In 1988, at the peak of his powers, he won at 1/2 in the same season he beat Panto Prince in that Victor Chandler and out-scrapped Yahoo in that heavy ground Gold Cup. In 1989 he made all again in typically flamboyant fashion at odds of 4/6. Then, in 1990, following a last-place finish in the Tingle Creek, he got off the canvas to win his fourth King George at odds of 9/4. Campaigned brilliantly by trainer David Elsworth and his owners, who never really entertained the idea of running him in the Grand National despite a fierce debate in the racing press, Dessie fell in his sixth and final King George in 1991, retiring not just as a Kempton legend, but as a racing one as well.

1. KAUTO STAR | 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2011 | Timeform Rating 191

“Hold my beer,” says Kauto Star, big white face poking out of his box in the top yard at trainer Paul Nicholls’ famous Ditcheat base. “Anything you can do, I can do better. Four King Georges? I’ll have five. Statue? Got one. Kempton race named after you? I’ll have a Grade 1, thanks. 15 lengths? Try a race-record 36. One Gold Cup? I regained mine. Only horse to ever do it. We’ve got this race called the Betfair Chase now too, won that four times. Million pound bonus? Tick. Alright, you weren’t bad in the handicaps. Does the Old Roan Chase count?"

It's true, Kauto Star edges this one on just about every metric. Okay, he didn’t do it in the big handicaps, top-class horses simply don’t have to in the modern day programme, and he didn’t quite make the crossover into the general public’s consciousness like Dessie did, but on the racetrack he was an absolute phenomenon. His breakthrough season, when he won the Old Roan over two and a half miles, the Betfair Chase over three miles, the Tingle Creek over two miles, the King George (his first) over three miles, the Aon Chase at Newbury over three miles and the Cheltenham Gold Cup over three and a quarter miles, was pure fantasy racing. Versatility when it comes to trip was one thing Kauto Star had in common with Desert Orchid. The other was his Kempton love affair.

His first King George was easy, even accounting for the last-fence blunder which threatened to become a trademark. His second even more impressive, 11 lengths back to Our Vic, not an error in sight. His third was eerily similar to his first, superb, but complete with last-fence mistake. His fourth, wow. His fourth was the 36-length bludgeoning, a masterclass in steeplechasing, a career high on the figures from a horse whose CV is cluttered with extraordinary figures. His record-breaking fifth a reclaiming of the crown, on the back of the comeback of all comebacks in the Betfair Chase; a last, glorious, success. A truly brilliant racehorse with longevity to match, it will take something extraordinary for Kauto Star to be toppled from the top of this particular tree. “I’ve always said it,” said Nicholls. “He was the horse of a lifetime.” This time he was right.

*Sources

• Chasers & Hurdlers, various editions (Timeform)
• The King George VI Steeplechase (Michael Tanner)
• The Grey Horse, the true story of Desert Orchid (Richard Burridge)
• Silver Buck (Andrew Hoyle)
• Good Horses Make Good Jockeys (Richard Pitman)

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.