Tingle Creek Chase History
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About The Tingle Creek Chase
The Tingle Creek Chase, is a Grade 1 Steeplechase run at Sandown Park Racecourse in Surrey, England. It is run over a distance of two miles and there are thirteen fences to be jumped. It is for horses five years old and upwards.
The Tingle Creek Chase is named after the very good two mile chaser Tingle Creek (Chestnut gelding, born 1966, sire Goose Creek - dam Martingle) who was trained by Harry Thomson Jones a very successful racehorse trainer in Newmarket. He trained flat horses and jumpers alike with considerable success. To put Thomson Jones dual purpose ability of training racehorses into perspective, in 1971, the same afternoon that he trained Athens Wood to win the Doncaster St Leger he also trained Ramequin to win a juvenile hurdle at Fakenham worth £272.
The Tingle Creek Chase was originally a race called the Sandown Handicap Pattern Chase but was later renamed the Tingle Creek Handicap Chase in honour of Tingle Creek who ran in and was the winner of the corresponding race numerous times.
In 1988 the race name was amended to Tingle Creek Chase Limited Handicap which reflected a change in race conditions. In a Limited Handicap weights between top and bottom horses are kept narrow so as to attract top horses whilst not making them give large concessions of weight to the other runners.
From 1994 onwards the handicap was removed with horses carrying the same weights in addition the race became a Grade 1 contest (up from Grade 2).
The Tingle Creek Chase has been won by some of the very best two mile chasers including Moscow Flyer, Viking Flagship and Flagship Uberalles (the last two named being half brothers). These three horses were also winners of the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and trainers naturally use the Tingle Creek as one of the stepping stones for the campaign of a top two miler on the road to Cheltenham. Other races to be aimed at for a Champion Chase bound two mile horse are the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter Racecourse, Castleford Chase at Wetherby Racecourse, Victor Chandler Handicap Chase at Ascot Racecourse and the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury Racecourse.
Tingle Creek Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup Connection
The Tingle Creek Chase has also produced two winners who have gone on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season. These horses were Desert Orchid who won the 1988 Tingle Creek Chase along with the 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup and Kauto Star winner of the 2006 Tingle Creek and the 2007 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Kauto Star had also won the Tingle Creek Chase in 2005 but fell in that seasons Queen Mother Champion Chase when favourite.
When Kauto Star won the Tingle Creek in 2006 on soft ground he covered the two miles in 15.13 seconds per furlong and when he won the 2007 Cheltenham Gold Cup on good to soft ground he ran the three miles two and a half furlongs in 15.11 seconds per furlong. I know the comparison is rule of thumb but there is hardly any difference. Kauto Star in fact ran slightly quicker winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup (over ten and a half furlongs further) than he did the Tingle Creek. Very much a case of the further he goes the better he goes.
In addition, when Desert Orchid won the Tingle Creek on good ground in 1988 it was a Limited Handicap in which he was giving 20lb to the second placed horse and on that day he covered the two miles and a few yards in 14.95 seconds per furlong. When he won the 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup albeit on very heavy ground he covered the three miles and two furlongs in 16.83 seconds per furlong. Although there is a difference of nearly two seconds per furlong the one thing Dessie demonstrated winning his Cheltenham Gold Cup was his ability to keep going no matter what the conditions.
The interesting fact that I draw from this is that it isn′t necessarily how fast they can go that wins horses races but how far they can keep that gallop going for. Obviously they must be able to go pretty quick but they have got be comfortable whilst doing so and I am of the opinion that this is where the high cruising speed factor comes in. I believe that one will find that all top horses whether on the flat or jumping possess stamina in abundance, they are the ones still going when all others have cried enough.
My Own Personal Experience of the Tingle Creek Chase
I lead Viking Flagship up when he won the 1994 running of the Tingle Creek Chase. He was one of the horses that I looked after at David Nicholson′s yard during the 1994/95 National Hunt Season. The Tingle Creek was his first run that season and it was also the first time that I had lead him up. We had two runners in the race, our other horse was Wonder Man. It was a small but select field. Apart from our two there was Travado, Deep Sensation, Nakir and Sybillin. Anyhow, Viking Flagship ridden by Adrian Maguire did the business in a very workmanlike way to win by three and a half lengths from Travado. It was a good day for the Nicholson yard as we also won the William Hill Handicap Hurdle earlier in the day with Relkeel.
You may be interested in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Arkle Chase or the Victor Chandler Handicap Chase
Tingle Creek Chase Past Winners
* The 2000 running took place at Cheltenham Racecourse over a distance of 2 miles and 110 yards
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