Leopardstown chief executive Pat Keogh is looking forward to a "mouthwatering" four days of action, with the Racing Post Novice Chase taking centre stage on Wednesday's opening card.
The Grade One heat sees Gordon Elliott's Mengli Khan clash with the Willie Mullins-trained Voix Du Reve over two miles and a furlong, and with a handful of top level events before the meeting concludes on Saturday, Keogh is anticipating an exciting few days.
He said: "It looks an exciting novice chase, but it looks like being a great four days overall. There's some mouthwatering racing to look forward to.
"The weather looks set fair for all four days. It's such a well-supported meeting, everybody wants to have a runner at Leopardstown over Christmas.
"The ground is good, yielding in places on the chase course and yielding on the hurdles track."
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Meanwhile, Kempton clerk of the course Brian Clifford is expecting a thoroughly competitive renewal of the 32Red King George VI Chase on St Stephen's Day.
Last year's winner Might Bite is one of 10 declared for the race, with Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Native River another key name in the field for the Christmas feature.
However, with an undercard also featuring Nicky Henderson's dual Champion Hurdle winner Buvuer D'Air and some well-regarded runners set to to clash in the Kauto Star Novices' Chase, Clifford is anticipating an exciting couple of days at the Sunbury venue.
He said: "It's such a competitive race this year. You can't really say there's a real flagbearer in there, but you'd have to give every horse a chance which makes for great sport.
"It was Leopardstown and, boy, he jumped bold"
— RTÉ Racing (@RTEracing) December 23, 2018
The Christmas Racing Festival live on #RTEracing, @RTE2 from 1pm on St Stephen's Day @leopardstownRC pic.twitter.com/Wn5EEyL3Dn
"We've also got Buveur D'Air to look forward to and Santini, as well as La Bague Au Roi in a really good novice chase. Then we have Altior to look forward to on Thursday. Special Tiara is also here and had a spin on Christmas Day morning.
"It's a great two days and it's all systems go."
Clifford reports the ground to be in fine order ahead of the meeting.
He added: "The ground is good to soft, good in places - probably about 50-50 and the track is in good nick. It should be great conditions."
Watch all four days of Leopardstown on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, or listen into RTÉ Radio 1 for the big race commentaries.
