It’s set for Chacun to turn on the style in high-voltage Tingle Creek

Richard Birch is relishing an electric running of one of the season’s highlights

SANDOWN hosts several big meetings during the year on the Flat and over jumps, but it’s Tingle Creek Chase day that holds a special place in many racegoers’ hearts.

Named in honour of a flamboyant front-runner who illuminated many dark winter afternoons during the 1970s at his beloved Esher track, the Betfair-backed Grade 1 has been won by such famous names as Desert Orchid, Moscow Flyer, Kauto Star, Sprinter Sacre and Altior.

Some would argue there is no better sight in racing than a specialist, top-class two-mile chaser tackling Sandown’s Railway fences at the high speed and intensity for which the race is known, and a small but select field this year is headed by the richly talented – albeit fragile – big-name Irish raider Chacun Pour Soi.

When he’s good Chacun Pour Soi is very, very good, as demonstrated by a record of seven wins from ten starts over fences, five of which have been achieved in Grade 1 company.

Chacun Pour Soi has that priceless ability to make highclass horses appear strictly ordinary, including when thrashing Ryanair Chase hero Allaho by five and a half lengths in Punchestown’s Champion Chase in April.

Beaten out of sight in third place that day was Nube

Negra, perhaps the biggest threat to Chacun Pour Soi at Sandown.

Dan Skelton’s seven-yearold has some strong form to his credit too, namely a threeand-a-half-length beating of Altior in last year’s Grade 2 Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton, and he looked better than ever on his reappearance when slamming Politologue by six lengths at Cheltenham last month.

Nube Negra (above) seems sure to run his race, but in theory Sandown should suit the strong-travelling, fluent jumping Chacun Pour Soi.

It’s a clash to raise the temperature on a cold December afternoon but Chacun Pour Soi, for all his frailties, has always had the aura of a proper superstar and it would be an absolute treat to see him turn on a real power show in front of an appreciative Sandown crowd. As his rider Patrick Mullins put it on Thursday, it will be “fast and furious” stuff at the Esher course.

Third Time Lucki, a stablemate of Nube Negra, is another who looks tailor-made for the demands of jumping at speed around Sandown.

He puts his unbeaten record over fences on the line in the Close Brothers Henry VIII Novices’ Chase, and an impressive success will see his current Arkle odds of 8-1 shorten.

Only the Irish trio of Appreciate It, Ferny Hollow and Bob Olinger are ahead of him in ante-post lists.

The ITV4 cameras, which are at Sandown for four races, will also televise four events from Aintree, where the thrills will continue in the £150,000 Unibet Becher Handicap Chase.

While the 22 runners won’t be going as fast as those in the Tingle Creek, fluent fencing will again be a key requirement.

We’ve already witnessed one race over the famous Grand National course this season with last month’s Grand Sefton Chase won by Mac Tottie, a race that provides a timely reminder that although such iconic fences as Becher’s

Brook and the Chair may not be as imposing and stiff as in years gone by, they still require plenty of negotiating.

Mac Tottie, who jumped well apart from one mistake that day, bids for a big-race Aintree double for the father-son team of Peter and James Bowen, and a 7lb rise may not be enough to stop him.

The longer trip of the Becher should suit, and another victory ought to guarantee him getting into the Grand National next April towards the foot of the weights.

Vieux Lion Rouge, a stalwart over the National course, returns in a bid to become the first horse to win a third

Becher Chase following his triumphs in 2016 and 2020.

His trainer David Pipe will still be licking his wounds following the fall of Remastered four out in last Saturday’s Ladbrokes Trophy when travelling like a winner.

Vieux Lion Rouge is 5lb higher than 12 months ago, but he beat Kimberlite Candy by 20 lengths on that occasion.

There would be no bigger cheer on any racecourse this weekend if the 12-year-old, who has competed in ten races on the National course, managed to win the Becher again and give Pipe compensation for that Newbury misfortune.

Jump racing may be primarily focused around one week in the middle of March nowadays, but many of its best stories are made in the depths of winter.

It would be no surprise if Sandown and Aintree provide one or two more this weekend on a rock ‘n’ roll day of action.