Tingle Creek Chase Betting Tips, Stats & History

Next Race: TBD

The 2020 renewal of this race has not been scheduled yet. We will update this once the schedule has been released for next season. The race info, trends and tips shown below will be updated for the next renewal once the final declarations have been made.

Tingle Creek Chase Betting Tips

The Tingle Creek Chase is up there with the biggest National Hunt races before Christmas. Its position in the calendar means that punters always look beyond the race itself and for any pointers they can pick up for the Cheltenham Festival.

The main Cheltenham link with the Tingle Creek is the big minimum distance chase of the Festival - the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The brilliant Altior is the most recent horse to complete the double, doing so last year, but the 2018 champion is not in the field to defend his crown.

The absence of Altior does not mean that this is a weak renewal of the Tingle Creek, far from it. There’s a mouth-watering contest in prospect with Defi Du Seuil, Un De Sceaux, Politologue and Sceau Royal all present towards the head of the betting for this 1m7½f race.

Well backed horses have a pretty good record in the Tingle Creek. Seven of the last 11 winners were either the favourite or joint favourites, with Dodging Bullets the biggest priced winner in that time at 9/1.

Good recent form is also important with just two of the last 17 winners failing to finish inside the top three of their most recent performance before heading to Sandown. Finally, the quality of this race is hammered home by the fact that most recent winners had an official rating of at least 165. Who will it be claiming triumph this time?

Defi Du Seuil - 6/4

The market leader has been well backed and it is easy enough to see why. The six-year-old has room for improvement and has already impressed, with four wins and two seconds from seven chase starts.

Ultimately though we just feel he is a shade short here now and so we have to think there is better value elsewhere. He won’t be far away, that seems almost certain, and having won at Aintree before we know he likes this course well enough.

He ticks all the right boxes in truth but there is no getting away from the fact that odds of 6/4 are short in a field so packed with classy opponents. We can’t put you off backing him but a price of 2/1 would be about right in our eyes, so we’ll have to pass him over.

Politologue - 5/1

Paul Nicholls is the most successful trainer in the history of the Tingle Creek Chase with 10 wins. The most recent of those came in 2017 when Politologue beat the odds-on favourite, Fox Norton by half a length. Politologue missed last year’s contest but returns to Sandown with a very good chance of victory at a tempting price of 5/1.

The main obstacle facing Politologue is that he was beaten by 1¼ lengths last time out by the favourite for this year’s Tingle Creek, Defi Du Seuil. The favourite’s performance in the Shloer Chase means he demands respect and he should be a major player in each race he enters over the course of the season. There seems likely to be more to come from him but the Tingle Creek is shaping up to be a very different race.

Barry Geraghty was able to dictate terms on Defi Du Seuil last month at Cheltenham. That will not be the case at Sandown with twice as many runners in the field including some strong travellers such as Un De Sceaux. A sterner pace should limit Defi Du Seuil’s ability to utilise his impressive acceleration in the closing stages and see the race pan out much more to Politologue’s liking. Nicholls will ensure his eight-year-old is in tip top shape and a second Tingle Creek win looks to be on the cards at the very nice price of 5/1.

Un De Sceaux – 9/2

Of course, Defi Du Seuil is not the only danger to Politologue. There is every chance that Un De Sceaux will himself capitalise on the faster pace that he is sure to set. The 11-year-old’s experience and versatility will allow him to be in contention come the final couple of fences even if he isn’t able to dictate the pace and he ran well when making his seasonal debut in last year’s Tingle Creek.

He may be turning 12 shortly but Un De Sceaux remains one of the highest ranked horses in jumps racing and connections are hopeful of yet another successful season for this truly remarkable competitor.

Predicting which route Un De Sceaux will take from now until Cheltenham is very tough but predicting a strong run on Saturday from this most consistent of performers is as easy as it gets. He’ll be on the premises come the finish, that seems almost guaranteed.

Janika - 9/1

Janika is a very interesting option from a little lower down the Tingle Creek betting market. Nicky Henderson’s six-year-old made a pleasing return to action at the start of November when obliging favourite backers in the Grade 2 Haldon Gold Cup.

Obviously, the Tingle Creek represents a very big step up in class for Janika but the quality of his run on his seasonal reappearance suggested that he has wintered very well and should make further improvements over the season ahead.

Janika’s run at Exeter was particularly interesting in that it saw him drop down in trip to 2m½f having done most of his best work over 20f or thereabouts last season. The team at Seven Barrows have either seen something from Janika’s recent work that suggests shorter distance chases are in his future or they are simply struggling to set out a clear path for him towards Cheltenham and beyond.

Either way, Janika has the jumping ability and pace to be a serious contender in the Tingle Creek and his odds of 9/1 are more than tempting for those seeking each way value.