If the Tingle Creek this year doesn’t look the deepest of renewals, the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase earlier on the card looks vintage with four of the top ten in Cheltenham Festival’s Arkle market going to post.
I was a little surprised to see Nicky Henderson’s Brain Power favourite for this after his facile debut over fences at Kempton.
He was a very good hurdler and went off fairly short in the Champion Hurdle last season but didn’t look to stay the stiff two-mile trip at championship pace and I’m concerned that he’ll come unstuck again in this lofty company.
He needs good ground but does get that, so it’s really just the price that rules him out with others seemingly having equal or better claims at longer odds.
I would dearly love my old favourite Sceaux Royal to win this, and he’s looked really good over fences so far despite defeat to North Hill Harvey when attempting to concede 5lb.
He jumps and travels but hasn’t shed his trait of finding little when push comes to shove since switching from hurdles to fences, and this field is simply too deep for him to travel all over and win handsomely on the bridle.
North Hill Harvey at 6/1 is possibly the better bet of those two, but his form over hurdles still gives him plenty to prove in this class – and he possibly needs softer ground too.
I fully expected FINIAN’S OSCAR to be favourite for this, so the fact he’s 9/4 behind Brain Power stands out as a good bet.
If there’s one horse in the field who looks like a potential world beater, this is it, and despite there being better jumpers of a fence in this field I doubt anything can match his engine.
He won a really good little novices’ chase on his previous start at Cheltenham, beating the classy Movewiththetimes by turning on the afterburners to power up the Cheltenham hill after a less-than-fluent jump at the last had initially seen him headed.
Sandown is also a stiff uphill finish and it’s a track that clearly suits Finian’s Oscar as he was a Grade 1 winner over hurdles here last season.
Subjectively, I simply think he’s the best horse in the race and I’m not for one moment buying into the idea this two-mile trip is too sharp for him.
Yes, you can lose a lot of ground without jumping well at this trip in this grade, but any suggestion he lacks the pace to be effective at this trip is laughable.
It’ll take a good one to beat him.
1.5pts win Finian’s Oscar @9/4, 13:45 Sandown, Saturday
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