The big weekend horse racing action has been blown away with the threat of Storm Darragh already forcing the big jumping card at Aintree to be CALLED OFF, but the Tingle Creek Chase fixture at Sandown is on after PASSING a second inspection at 9:30am.
Sandown PASS Second Saturday Inspection Ahead Of Tingle Creek Chase Card
The Grade One Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday is expected to see the hot favourite with the best horse racing betting sites in the UK Jonbon defend his title.
However, the Sandown horse racing meeting was under threat of being called off due to Storm Darragh.
The Esher track already took a battering on Thursday night, but after a bright morning day one of the two-day Tingle Creek card on Friday was fine to go ahead.
But the forecasters are predicting more rain and very high winds during Friday evening and into Saturday – with up to 60-65mph gusts expected to hit big parts of the country.
The track looked at 7:00am on Saturday morning and after looking again at 9:30am – the good news is they have PASSED and (for now) will race.
Andrew Cooper, the clerk of the course at Sandown said “The storm looks like it’ll start impacting us this evening, with the wind picking up and possible rain. In terms of wind speed we’re expecting to start getting a feel of the extent of it by daybreak tomorrow. Our forecast continue to suggest the worst could be midday tomorrow, which is when racing is due to start.
“It could be gusts in excess of 50mph, and an average speed in the 40s. Other courses in Britain will have it worse than that, but in most people’s experience 50mph is a bit of a tipping point. Adding on to that is quite heavy rain at times, but there’s less confidence in the volume of it.
“We could see ten millimetres in total. It’s just a waiting game for now, there’s not much we can do about it, but it’s the right thing to do to have an inspection and take stock of it in the morning.”
Aintree Called Off But Becher Chase Could Be Saved
On the day, the other jumps meetings – Aintree and Chepstow are OFF – but Weatherby survived and could join Wolverhampton (AW) as the days only two UK cards.
Aintree’s Becher Chase meeting was called off at their 7:00am Saturday inspection – with the Liverpool track having an amber Met Office weather warning in place for high winds.
Jon Pullin – Aintree’s joint cleark of the course said – “We arrived at around 5.30am and it was calm then, but it picked up very quickly soon after then and it became obvious that we couldn’t race. Our main concern was about the wings of fences and the safety of people and we’d already started to see significant movement on the likes of wings of fences. It’s obviously disappointing not to race, but it was a clear decision.”
Becher Chase Could Be Run On Boxing Day
Aintree’s next meeting is on Boxing Day, but discussions will start to see if the Becher Chase can be rescheduled.
Pullin said: “It’s too early to say if it can be rescheduled or not, but we’ll talk to the BHA in the week to see if there is the desire for it.”
Tingle Creek Chase Has Been Re-routed To Cheltenham’s December Meeting Before
If the 2024 Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday does get lost to the weather, the race might be saved as in the past it’s been slotted into the Cheltenham December Meeting – which is next Friday and Saturday.
Back in 2010 the classy Paul Nicholl-trained Master Minded won the Tingle Creek at Cheltenham, after the original Sandown fixture was abandoned.
Sandown Park Going Description
- Soft
- Good to soft in places on Chase course
- Heavy in places on Hurdle course
- (GoingStick: Chase 5.0, Hurdle 4.6)
If the Sandown and Aintree meetings go ahead, you can get Andy Newton’s Saturday ITV Racing tips here.
Aintree Going Description
- SOFT
- Heavy in places on National course
- (GoingStick: Chase 4.5, Hurdle 4.4, National 4.2)
