LONDON, Dec 26 — For half a century Harry Redknapp’s Boxing Day was spent largely trying to get the better of footballing rivals either as a player or manager but today, he will have his eyes on another prize — the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park.

The 78-year-old Englishman — who guided Portsmouth to 2008 FA Cup glory — has enjoyed a fair amount of success over the jumps as an owner.

However, should The Jukebox Man beat his seven opponents in the steeplechase widely regarded as second only to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in prestige it would be far and away his biggest win.

Racing has been in his blood from when he was growing up in London: his grandmother, Maggie Brown, ran bets for a bookmaker which was illegal at the time.

Redknapp, who is largely associated with West Ham as he played for them for seven years and subsequently managed them for the same amount of time, went to watch his star on the gallops at trainer Ben Pauling’s stables and said his ‘nan’ would pinch herself at his having such a horse.

“It’s a far cry from the East End of London, (when she was) getting slung in the back of a police van every other day for collecting the bets,” he told the assembled media.

“People forget there were no betting shops, betting was totally illegal, so the only way you could have a bet was through an illegal bookmaker.”

Redknapp, who says he first got involved as an owner when he was managing Bournemouth in the 1980s, says his wife Sandra has a good laugh at his expense.

“A guy on the TV said, ‘Harry Redknapp, he keeps buying horses and he never buys a bad one’, and Sandra fell off the settee laughing,” said Redknapp.

“We’ve got a list as long as your arm so when you get a good one you’ve got to enjoy it.”

‘Mildly entertaining’ 

Redknapp has already enjoyed a victorious day out at Kempton with The Jukebox Man, last year in the Grade One Kauto Star Novice Chase.

However, six of his seven rivals — including last year’s King George winner Banbridge and runner-up Il Est Francais — are top class.

“It’s like going into the Champions League,” said Redknapp briefly falling back into his footballing days when his crowd-pleasing Tottenham Hotspur side reached the quarter-finals of European football’s top club competition in the 2010/11 season.

“You look at the teams that are still in it and you think, my God, but you still think you’ve got a chance and you’re dreaming that you could go all the way and win it.”

Perhaps the two most dangerous rivals to The Jukebox Man are from the formidable Irish trainer Willie Mullins’s stable, Gaelic Warrior and Fact to File.

Gaelic Warrior just got the better of his stablemate in a thrilling duel at Punchestown last month.

Gaelic Warrior’s owners Rich and Susannah Ricci have yet to win the King George, Vautour having been edged out by the fast-finishing Cue Card in the 2015 edition.

“In 30 seconds I saw a man who thinks he’s won a King George turn into one who finds out he hasn’t,” said Joe Chambers, the Ricci’s racing manager

“In hindsight it was mildly entertaining but at the time anything but.”

Chambers hopes for better fortune this time and is encouraged by what he is hearing from Mullins, who is seeking a third success in the race.

“The vibes and the feedback from both trainer and his assistant have been very positive, certainly in the last 10 days and have done nothing to dissuade us from thinking this is a very good idea.” — AFP