Tingle Creek Chase Tips and Free Bets

Betting tips for the Tingle Creek Chase are available here, including the best odds on offer for this fascinating Grade One chase from Sandown Park and some excellent betting offers too.

Tingle Creek Chase Tips and Betting Offers, 3:00, 7th December 2019

The Tingle Creek Chase isn’t just one of the highlights of this weekend’s racing, it is one of the most prestigious minimum distance chases around. This Grade 1 takes place over a trip just shy of 2 miles and has been won by incredibly high class horses such as Desert Orchid, Moscow Flyer and last year’s winner, Altior. We have an exciting renewal of the Tingle Creek in prospect which will only be helped by the good to soft conditions expected at Sandown Park.

Politologue Can Reverse Last Month’s Form

Defi Du Seuil is a worthy favourite for this year’s Tingle Creek Chase. The highly impressive six-year-old did some incredibly good work as a novice chaser last season where he got the better of the current ante post favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Lostintranslation twice, including in the JLT Novices’ Chase.

Philip Hobbs knows that he has a potentially very special racehorse on his hands and clearly believes that his qualities are best suited to this sort of short trip over fences – for the time being at least.

Defi Du Seuil made his return to action in the middle of November with a very good win in the Shloer Chase. That victory saw his odds cut for the Queen Mother Champion Chase and is also the main reason for his top billing at Sandown. However, it’s tough to get excited about his price at a general 13/8, especially when Politologue is available at 5/1 with bet365.

The 2017 winner did not defend the Tingle Creek against Altior last year but makes his return to Sandown with a fair amount of credit for his recent run at Cheltenham. The Shloer Chase did not pan out as connections would have hoped as the slow pace allowed Defi Du Seuil the chance to use his impressive speed in decisive fashion. The favourite won’t have that option this year with Un De Sceaux among those likely to set a more demanding pace.

Paul Nicholls has saddled 10 winners of the Tingle Creek so will know the best tactics for the race very well. He’ll hope a stronger gallop will take the legs from Defi Du Seuil and allow Politologue to capitalise on his excellent jumping to win the Tingle Creek for the second time.

Janika to Take Another Step Forward

Nicky Henderson has some tough decisions to make with Janika this season. He was kept to handicaps during the last campaign but some very good performances saw his rating climb and the win in his first start of this season meant it would always be difficult to find suitable races for this potentially high class six-year-old.

The most likely plan for Janika will see him contest the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. It’s a little surprising to see him line up in the Tingle Creek but Henderson clearly believes he is versatile enough to compete over 2 miles and 2 ½ miles. Janika certainly has enough about him to have a real chance of a place at Sandown.

Betting Predictions

This is shaping up to be a very good renewal of the Tingle Creek Chase. Many will be content to sit back and simply watch the action unfold but it is tough to ignore the excellent value available on both Politologue (5/1 with bet365) and Janika (9/1 with Ladbrokes), both of whom should be in the reckoning come the home straight.

Previous Winners

2017 – Politologue – jockey Harry Cobden, trainer Paul Nicholls
2016 – Un De Sceaux – jockey Ruby Walsh, trainer Willie Mullins
2015 – Sire de Grugy – jockey Jamie Moore, trainer Gary Moore
2014 – Dodging Bullets – jockey Sam Twiston-Davies, trainer Paul Nicholls
2013 – Sire de Grugy – jockey Jamie Moore, trainer Gary Moore
2012 – Sprinter Sacre – jockey Barry Geraghty, trainer Nicky Henderson
2011 – Sizing Europe – jockey Andrew Lynch, trainer Henry de Bromhead
2010 – Master Minded – jockey Noel Fehily, trainer Paul Nicholls
2009 – Twist Magic – jockey Ruby Walsh, trainer Paul Nicholls
2008 – Master Minded – jockey Tony McCoy, trainer Paul Nicholls
2007 – Twist Magic – jockey Sam Thomas, trainer Paul Nicholls
2006 – Kauto Star – jockey Ruby Walsh, trainer Paul Nicholls
2005 – Kauto Star – jockey Mick Fitzgerald, trainer Paul Nicholls

Tingle Creek Chase History

This Grade 1 National Hunt chase is open to all horses four years and older and is ran over a two-mile distance. There is a total of thirteen jumps in this particular chase and has been part of the jumping season since its inauguration in 1979.

The Tingle Creek Chase is raced at Sandown Park and qualified as a Grade 1 event in 1994. Its unusual name originates from the popular 1970’s National Hunt racehorse, Tingle Creek. The race was created in honour of this particular horse due to his amazing record in races at Sandown Park. In recent years, this has been a race dominated by the exceptional trainer, Paul Nicholls who has managed to accumulated nine victories in the 35 year history of this race.

Nicholls’ 10 successful years here have made him the most successful trainer of this race’s history with all of these coming since 1999, in fact he has trained eight of the past 13 winners in this one.

David Nicholson is a trainer who is also deserved of a mention here, having trained three winning horses here who have won a total of five Tingle Creek Chases between them. Trainer Fred Winter managed to dominate the early years of this race, after managing three consecutive victories from 1980 until 1982 with the race not being ran in 1983. Paul Nicholls eclipsed this trio of victorious years however, doubling Winter’s achievement with six victorious years from 2005 until 2010, with plenty of runners who went on to post victories at the Cheltenham Festival later in the season.

This race has an incredible record of producing victorious horses who tend to go on to win here on more than one occasion. There have been nine horses to have won the Tingle Creek Chase at least twice, with Flagship Uberalles managing three consecutive victories in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Amazingly, Flagship Uberalles had three different jockeys and three different trainers over these three years, proving what a superb horse he was at the turn of the century.

In fact one of these three jockeys was Robert Widger, the only amateur jockey to have ever won here. Richard Dunwoody is the most successful jockey to have ever participated in this chase, with five triumphant runs in 1985, 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1996.