Tag Archives: Tingle Creek Chase

Sire de Grugy Wins at Tingle Creek

Esher, England once again hosted one of the latest National Hunt contests of the year this past Saturday with the 36th running of the Tingle Creek Chase since 1979 (there was no race in 1983). A two-mile race for 4-year-old competitors and above, it’s one of the last real opportunities of the year for significant racing glory in Britain, and it always attracts some of the biggest names in European racing.

This year’s event lost a little bit of its luster when it was announced in late November on BBC.com that popular champion Sprinter Sacre wouldn’t compete. He’s a 9-year-old horse who’s become a seasoned champion of spring races, but he’s been treated off-and-on for a heart condition. He seemed nearly back to normal upon winning the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham earlier in November. However, it looks like trainer Nicky Henderson and the rest of the team decided to hold Sprinter Sacre out of major races in preparation for another run at March’s Cheltenham Festival, where he won the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2013. Thus, the horse did not return to Esher to win back the Tingle Creek title he took in 2012.

As if that didn’t shake up the race enough, popular favorite Un De Sceaux, a Willie Mullins horse, also withdrew just before the competition, leaving the field fairly wide open for the other competitors. Without Sprinter Sacre and Un De Sceaux, it felt like it could be anybody’s race. In the absence of those two, Paul Nicholls’ Vibrato Valtat became the favorite, with Sire de Grugy and Special Tiara also warranting mentions in betting circles. You can find more about the pre-race outlook at Gambling.com, but for the most part these three were the biggest remaining names once Sprinter Sacre and Un De Sceaux pulled out.

And as it turned out on Saturday at Sandown Park, it was Sire de Grugy who was in best form. Another one-time Champion Chase winner at Cheltenham who also took Tingle Creek back in 2013, Sire de Grugy ran a strong race and just beat out Special Tiara at the very end. It was a major win for trainer Gary Moore given the major names like Henderson and Nicholls that were expected to lord over the competition, and it was certainly especially sweet given that Moore’s son Jamie did the riding.

A full race recap is available at TheGuardian.com. Sire de Grugy is next expected to be primed for an appearance at April’s Grand National contest at Aintree.