SILVINIACO CONTI won his second King George with a faultless jumping performance that lit up a gloomy Kempton on Boxing Day.

The Paul Nicholls-trained chaser made every yard of the running under Noel Fehily to give his trainer, who was also responsible for Kauto Star, an incredible ninth King George.

Silviniaco Conti has some distance to go to match Kauto Star's five King Georges, but he channelled some of that chaser's magnificence as he made easy work of Kempton's fences.

Turning for home he had not made a mistake and, although he had Cue Card, Champagne Fever and Dynaste going well close behind, Fehily soon put the race to bed.

Champagne Fever had raced round quietly while Cue Card had made a bad mistake going by the stands the first time. Neither could handle the stamina reserves Fehily unleashed on the home stretch.

Although Silviniaco Conti has never won at Cheltenham and has twice come up short in the Betfred-sponsored Gold Cup, he is now hot favourite to claim the race in March.

Nicholls, who had been out of luck at Kempton's Boxing Day meeting until this win, said: "That was brilliant. It had been an up and down day up to then. I knew he was in a good place.

"Cheekpieces have turned him inside out. Last year without the cheekpieces on he wouldn’t have been able to have done that. Now he travels and gallops and jumps and he has done that very nicely.

"I knew he would stay and gallop and the plan was to make it a test of stamina.

"On those lazy horses the headgear just wakes them up. Hopefully the next one it will work on will be Sam Winner in the Lexus because I have done the same with him."

Dynaste ran on to claim second, but he never stood a chance with the winner who crossed the line four and a half lengths in front. Al Ferof did well to stay on into third and was followed home by Champagne Fever and Cue Card.

Closer to home, Phil Kirby had plenty to celebrate on Boxing Day as all three of his runners returned home in front, starting with Hail The Brave at Wetherby before Istimraar and Bedale Lane ran out easy winners at Sedgefield.

The following day, back at Wetherby, Chris Grant was all smiles after Notonebuttwo landed the hat-trick in the concluding handicap hurdle with Grant saying afterwards: "He has done well this year. It was tough today but he got there. We will see what there is for him but it is possible he could go back over fences."

Catterick raced on Sunday and Andy Crook was delighted to see Air Chief back in the winners enclosure after the seller, battling on strongly from the final flight.

Afterwards the Middleham trainer said: "He seemed to benefit from the break. He´d been on the go for a long time so I turned him out after his last run to freshen him up."

John Kington was the jockey on board and he doubled up in the following handicap chase when Foot The Bill came home in front for Patrick Holmes, who was on hand, saying: "He needs better ground, but he´d been running well so I thought it was worth giving him another go. He jumps better on good ground. He´ll have a break now and come back in the spring."

It will be back to Catterick on New Years Day as the are all set to stage a six-race card,due underway at 12.30pm. The weather is set to get milder no so problem on the front, no better way to kick off 2015.