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Harry Redknapp faces ‘nerve-wracking’ Christmas as he pursues King George goal
Dec 18 2025 15:16 · By Jon Lees · 85 Reads
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Harry Redknapp says winning the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase ‘would be a dream’. The ex-West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur manager has become a leading racehorse owner since he retired from the Premier League dugout.
He memorably celebrated his first Cheltenham Festival success when the Ben Pauling-trained Shakem Up’Arry landed the Plate in 2024. Now he is making his Christmas plans around going to Kempton Park on Boxing Day to see if The Jukebox Man can deliver his biggest success as an owner in the £250,000 race. The Jukebox Man, also trained by Pauling, is an 8-1 chance with the sponsor after he made the perfect return at Haydock Park last month when running out the easy winner of the Betfair Exchange Graduation Chase.
Redknapp said: “I’m looking forward to it and it is nice to have a runner in the King George.
“When Ben bought The Jukebox Man you hoped he would be alright, but you never know. To end up with a horse that is good enough to go there and have a realistic chance is fantastic.
“When I bought him, he wasn’t like five hundred thousand pounds or anything like that, but we thought he should be alright, however he has outgrown all our expectations which has been great.
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“It is a hot race and it will be a tough race, but he looks like he is in great shape and Ben said he has been working great, so you never know.
“You look at the Mullins horses and the Henderson horse and there are lots of good horses in the race, but he has a chance.”
The 78-year-old Redknapp will spend Christmas Day around his son Mark’s house and head to Kempton the next day, accompanied by wife Sandra.
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“Me and Sandra are going and some of the family are coming, I don’t know if Jamie wants to come as he might want to. Sandra doesn’t go racing usually as I normally wander off!
“The dream was to always have a winner at the Cheltenham Festival. So many people put so much into racing over the years that they never get a Cheltenham winner.
“To get a winner there will always be special to me, but to win a King George would be a dream, but I know how hard it will be to do it and it will be nerve racking.