The Gr1 Betfair Tingle Creek Chase (17h00) is the highlight on the Sandown card on Saturday afternoon.
The Premier Raceday meeting also the features the Gr1 Betfair Henry VIII Novices’ Chase (15h50), with both contests run over two miles on soft ground.
Sandown plays host to Saturday’s Betfair Tingle Creek Chase (Pic – The Jockey Club)
Nicky Henderson’s champ Jonbon is a short price to secure back-to-back victories in the Tingle Creek after overcoming heavy ground and Edwardstone last season.
A winner of 15 of his 18 starts, Jonbon is at least 7lbs clear of his rivals on official ratings, and he looked good when beating regular rivals Boothill and Edwardstone on his return in the Shloer last month. The market has them next in the betting in a field of five, and Jonbon should be hard to beat again.
L’Eau Du Sud is another who has shown versatility in terms of ground and is on a roll ahead of the Betfair Henry VIII Novices’ Chase. The Dan Skelton trained six-year-old looks another “good thing” on the day.
A fair performer over hurdles, he looks to be an even better chasing prospect having cruised home at Stratford before a wide-margin Gr2 victory at Cheltenham last month. The Sir Alex Ferguson co-owned runner travelled strongly throughout, jumping well before stretching 11 lengths clear up the straight.
This is another step up in class, but he holds a slight edge on the ratings ahead of Rubaud and Irish raider Down Memory Lane. The latter represents leading owner JP McManus will ensure the pace is on and could be the biggest threat to the favourite.
On Sunday, Willie Mullins has entered six of the eight runners in the Gr2 Bar One Racing Hilly Way Chase (16h15), run over an extended two miles at Cork.
It’s great to see the return to the track of the top-class Energumene after a 593-day absence. The ten-year-old is a winner of 10 of his 12 starts over fences. He won this in 2022 by a wide margin, and its noteworthy that Paul Townend has elected to ride him in place of stablemates Ferny Hollow, Blue Lord, and Appreciate It.
