Sod the hurdlers, two-mile chasers represent the best the National Hunt game has to offer and this year’s renewal of the Grade-1 Tingle Creek Chase was shaping up to be classic.
With the back-in-form Sprinter Sacre, his fragile stablemate Simonsig out after a near-three-year hiatus to finally deliver upon the promise of his Arkle-winning season, and the current Arkle champion Un De Sceaux, we were in for an early Christmas present.
All have since been ruled out for varying reasons, but the race remains an interesting betting heat nonetheless.
Three of the eight declared ran a month ago at Exeter, with Paul Nicholls’s Vibrato Valtat landing the spoils in eye-catching style. Hard on the bridle right up until he belted the last, he kicked on to win by a cosy four lengths and earned himself 2/1 favouritism for this. Clearly soft ground is what he want and he gets it.
Colin Tizzard’s Third Intention, one of the first off the bridle, stayed on for second and was entitled to some improvement as that was his seasonal bow. He was then thrashed by Vautour and Ptit Zig at Ascot, which has to confirm he’s out of his depth for this.
Further back was the out-of-form 2014 Champion Chase hero Sire De Grugy – whose 3/1 SP in the race remains one of the daftest lays I’ve ever seen. He can only claim a solitary handicap victory at Chepstow since, though Timeform rated that performance very highly indeed. Aged nine his best form is probably behind him, but he simply didn’t look right last season after setting his bar so high and I can’t rule out a big race. That Exeter run did nothing to quash those suspicions and 5/1 is no price to prove them wrong.
Josses Hill is left to represent the Henderson yard on his seasonal debut. Over fences he’s struggled to translate his best hurdles form – most notably chasing Vautour home in the Supreme Novices’ in 2014 – but ran a good race behind Un De Sceaux in the Arkle, with Vibrato Valtat behind. Henderson’s stars have been in decent form this season and I suspect he’s better than his 9/1 price suggests.
The money horse this week has been Special Tiara, who won the Celebration Chase over course and distance last season and was only beaten three lengths in the Champion Chase. Trainer Henry de Bromhead has talked up his chances, but I’m not convinced he’s entitled to much improvement as a nine-year-old and he’s generally fallen short at this grade to date. The price has gone.
Mick Channon’s Somersby rarely runs a bad race and chased Sprinter Sacre home at Cheltenham last month, whilst also running a blinder to finish second in Dodging Bullets’s Champion Chase. He’s surely too old to win this as there’s always likely to be one better, but there are worse each-way bets.
Lastly, Mr Mole completes the field, but he’s not good enough for this grade and it’s hard to find anything positive about his chances to have a bet at a bit of a price.
I want to be on Josses Hill, but he’ll need to drift for that to make any sense. Special Tiara is no better than a fair price and Sire De Grugy has a huge amount of improving to do get back to his best. Despite his jumping frailties – excusable given his inexperience – it might pay to back the young, improving favourite from this country’s most powerful yard. There’s enough juice in the ground to point to some more in his price, though it’d be wise to seek some 5/2 in the morning.
1pt win Vibrato Valtat @5/2, Sandown 15:00
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