Who To Follow At Sandown On Saturday - 03/12/22

James Mackie

Thu 01 Dec 2022 16.02

Sandown 14:55

Greaneteen

J: Harry Cobden

T: Paul Nicholls

N/A

Age: 8

Weight: 11-10

OR: 171

Days: 29

The feature race of the afternoon from Sandown is the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase and it sees a superb field of six head to post.

We are siding with the Paul Nicholls trained Greaneteen to land back to back renewals of this race and although the superstar Shishkin will be very tough to beat, we feel Paul Nicholls' horse has plenty in his favour to see off the favourite.

Greaneteen is a solid contender for this event having some superb Sandown form and off the back of his weight carrying seasonal debut at Exeter he looks an even better horse this term.

Second in this event on his first try back in 2020, he then finished that season over the same C&D when landing the Grade One Celebration Chase.

Making his seasonal debut last term in the Haldon Gold Cup when not being able to give the weight away, he improved massively for the run to land this event from stablemate Hitman.

Second in the Desert Orchid at Christmas behind Shishkin, he then went to the Dublin Racing Festival in February and ran no race in the Dublin Chase.

Back at Sandown for his final run of the season he made it back to back wins in the Grade One Celebration Chase and a hat-trick of wins over C&D.

Normally needing the run on seasonal debut, he looked fitter than ever at Exeter in the Haldon Gold Cup giving mountains of weight away and he went on to bolt up with ease.

Nicholls can't have him in any better form and with Shishkin, although being a superstar, he does have some questions to answer off the back of his bone disease and last performance at the Cheltenham festival.Great race.

Form: 12511View

Date	Course	Distance	Type	Weight	Position
03/12/22	SAN	15.5	GS	11-10	2
04/11/22	EXE	17.5	Gd	11-12	1
23/04/22	SAN	15.5	Gd	11-7	1
06/02/22	LEO	17	Y	11-12	5
27/12/21	KEM	16	Sft	11-6	2

It could be a very fruitful day for Nicky Henderson at Sandown with this meeting always being good to him when it comes to winners.

In the first event of the afternoon he is looking to see Immortal put up a repeat performance of Constitution Hill in the race he won last year on debut.

Henderson then fields Call Me Lord off top weight in the Pertemps qualifier, alongside Scarpia who needs to bounce back to form.

The Seven Barrows trainers' best chance of the afternoon comes from Jonbon in the Grade One Henry VIII Novices' Chase with the gelding a class above the rest.

Another superb chance for the yard comes from Shishkin in the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase, with the multiple Grade One winner looking to put his last run behind him.

Henderson heads into the weekend sporting a strike rate of 28% for the last two weeks, managing to land nine winners from 32 runners.

Jonathan Burke could not be in any better form this season, picking up winners up and down the country and at Sandown on Saturday has a decent book of rides.

His first ride of the afternoon comes in the Mares Handicap Hurdle with Whisky Express looking to show she is a well handicapped horse.

In the Pertemps qualifier Burke sits on Midnightreflection who is 1lb lower than his last winning mark and could bounce back going back up in trip.

Burke rides Boothill in the Grade One Henry VIII Novices' Chase who steps out of Handicap company straight into black type.

The riders best chance of a winner on the afternoon comes from Love Envoi in the Handicap Hurdle over 2m4f with the mare looking better than her mark of 139, previously racing in Grade One and Two company, performing to a high level.

His final event of the afternoon sees Burke pick up the ride on Dunvegan for Pat Fahey in the Grade One Tingle Creek.

The experienced rider heads into the weekend sporting a strike rate of 22% for the last two weeks, managing seven winners from 32 runners.