Sandown Tingle Creek Meeting


It was great to see fans back at Sandown for the Tingle Creek meeting even if I couldn’t attend due to being in tier 3, but I’m pretty sure they wouldnt of been dissapointed in the racing that they saw. We will jump straight into the first Grade 1 which was the Henry VIII Novices Chase, it was a competitive field, with all five of the runners going into the race unbeaten over the larger obstacles, three of the five runners were 4 year olds and it was those three that filled the first three home. The race went the way of Allmankind, which was another winner for the 10 to follow making it 8 wins from 15 runs. He raced the only way he knows, going from the front and making all, he jumped out to his left on occasions with Dan Skelton saying after the race they expected that. He had a 4-5 length lead coming out of the railway fences with Harry Cobden and Hitman in pursuit. With the pond fence being omitted he only had two fences to jump in the straight, which he jumped well when the pressure was on, with Hitman closing the gap, but unfortunately for him not quick enough. For me this was a brilliant performance, after the race he was understandably cut for the Arkle in March to 8/1 I think that’s a cracking e/w bet, with this undoubtedly being the standout piece of 2 mile novice form far for me, yes Shishkin won nicely and jumped well, but he’s not a Grade 1 winner over fences yet is he?! I honestly feel if he raced like he did on Saturday he would get loads of horses out of their comfort zone and they would have little room for error. There is just something about a 2 mile chase around the Esher track that you can’t beat and it was always gonna be some sight seeing Allmankind fly around Sandown.

(Allmankind and Harry Skelton up the Sandown hill to Grade 1 success, Credit Michael Harris)

The second Grade 1 was the Tingle Creek, unfortunately the race lost its star attraction the day before, with Nicky Henderson confirming Altior would not run as the ground was “too soft” for him, this caused an uproar on social media, but the horses welfare is what comes first. The race still had the Champion Chase winner in Politologue who after Altior’s absence was sent off the short priced favourite. He like Allmankind was also ridden by Harry Skelton and once again made all, jumping boldly out in front, unlike the previous race he only had a 2 length lead from stablemate Greaneteen after the railway fences, where for a second it looked like Greaneteen was travelling the better of the two, but as they went around the pond fence Politologue just started to get the upper hand. He didn’t jump the 2nd last well handing Greaneteen another chance, but he was much better at last which sealed the race as he powered up the Sandown hill to win by 7 lengths. This was a nice performance from Politologue who always runs well fresh having won four of his five starts over fences first time out. It seems like Paul has now found that this is the key to him keeping him nice and fresh for his races, but you feel come March and back in the Champion Chase he may find one too good, but like last year showed they’ve all got to get their first.

(Politologue jumping clear on his was to win his 2nd Tingle Creek, Credit Michael Harris)

The London National was the next race on the card and it was good to see Doing Fine win it, as he was the one who won the race last year only for it to be called void, he travelled and jumped well and stayed on well when he was challenged by Crosspark in the run in, denying Harry Skelton a quick treble. More importantly away from the horses, it was great to see Millie Wonnacott back and on a winner after fracturing her vertebrae 3 months ago, just goes to show these jockeys are made of strong stuff, that or completely mad! The final race on the Sandown card was the December Handicap Hurdle, the race saw a short priced favourite for Henderson in Mister Coffey, he kept on in the run in past tired horses to finish 3rd. The winner was the Dr Newland trained Benson, he raced near the back but made some headway moving into 3rd with 2 to jump where he made a mistake pecking on landing, but showed great determination to stay on up the hill and win going away after jumping the last 3 lengths behind Galice Macalo. For me he had the stand out piece of form in the race when he was running a massive race at 66/1 in the Contenders Hurdle in February before unseating 2 hurdles out, it would be nice to see him hopefully go on from here. 

Also on Saturday but at Aintree we had the Becher Handicap Chase over the National fences, the race went the way of the David Pipe trained Vieux Lion Rouge and he couldn't of done it any more impressively winning by 24 lengths. He travelled well throughout the race and came there full of running where he took the lead with 2 fences to jump, before forging clear. It was hard not to be taken by his win and for me 40/1 is a great E/W  price for him in the National just because he has such a great record around the National course and has always completed when he's been there. The 2nd Kimberlite Candy also ran a nice race, yes he was beaten 24 lengths, but he travelled and jumped brilliantly during the race and for me is another big player come April with his odds being 28/1. We also had the Grade 2 Many Clouds Chase, the race featured the names that we wanted, Frodon, Santini and last years winner Native River, but unfortunately it wasn't the race we wanted with a few of the fences being omitted due to low sun. This didn't suit any of the horses mentioned before as they all love a real test of jumping, this saw the race go to Lake View Lad, who always travelled well and was going to best of them turning for home, where he got himself into a battle with Santini just getting the better of him in the final strides. I'm sure everyone else just like myself was expecting Santini to put the race to bed but he just couldn't. Take nothing away from Lake View Lad he won it well but Santini should really of been beating him in my eyes, which is why I couldn’t have him for the Gold Cup this year, I know he was an unlucky 2nd last year and the lack of a jumping test didn't help him, but for me he just lacks something extra in the final few yards of his races. 

There is just a couple of races in Ireland on the Sunday that I want to touch on, firstly the Hilly Way Chase, which saw Chacun Pour Soi make his seasonal debut, he won as was expected being sent off at 1/5. He jumped well winning by 19 lengths, but for me we didn't learn anything from this race and he's a horse I've never been blown away by, so I'm quite happy to see him sitting at the top of the Champion Chase market as this means we will hopefully get a better price about something else come March. The second race was the John Durkan Chase at Punchestown, this was won by Min who in doing so became the first horse to win this race 3 times, unfortunately I can’t mention how the race unfolded as nobody could see anything due to thick fog, so much so that the remainder of the meeting was called off shortly after the race. I even for a second thought Melon had won it and he finished 7 lengths back in 3rd! Either way its great to see Min winning races as I think he’s such an underrated horse, where if it wasn’t for a certain Altior he’d of also had a Supreme and a Champion Chase on his CV.

Thanks for taking the time to week this weeks blog, this coming weekends highlight is the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham as well as the International Hurdle where there is every possibility that we will see Goshen back over hurdles.

A special thanks to Michael for allowing me to use his photos throughout my blog, you can find more of his work here on twitter via @mjyharris 

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