The Betfair Tingle Creek Chase is the centrepiece of a glittering eight-race card at Sandown Park on Saturday. 

What already promised to be a terrific day of action at the Esher track has got a cherry on the top, with the rescheduled Fighting Fifth Hurdle added to proceedings. 

The outstanding Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill is set to meet Shishkin and two other Cheltenham Festival winners in that contest, while the Betfair Henry VIII Novices’ Chase will be another Grade One feature to savour. 

Here’s a guide to the five runners in the Tingle Creek. 

Official Rating: 158. Betfair odds: 16/1. 

He’s already paid his way for the season, winning successive handicaps at Ascot last month off marks of 149 and then 155. He looked fortunate on the second occasion as Saint Segal seemed to have his measure when coming down at the final fence. The question now is whether he can bridge the gap to Grade One company, needing another chunk of improvement to mix it with the best at this level. His one previous foray into Grade One company came the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at this meeting last year, when Jonbon batted him aside by eight lengths. 

Official Rating: 165. Betfair odds: 15/2. 

 He was put in his place by Jonbon in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham last month, but was he beaten by a superior rival or undone by a lack of match fitness? Or was it a bit of both? He looked poised to challenge early in the straight after travelling well but got left behind in the closing stages. What we do know, without doubt, is that Edwardstone operates extremely well around Sandown. He was a superb winner of this race on his return last season, when Alan King was adamant he was not at his peak, and had won the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase in grand fashion a year earlier. His effort in the Shloer at least erased the memory of his dull display in the Champion Chase last term. His previous effort, when splitting Editeur Du Gite and Energumene in the Clarence House Chase and looking unlucky not to win, confirmed he has few peers in this division, for all that connections have been toying with moving him up in distance. 

Official Rating: 150. Betfair odds: 16/1. 

 The front-running six-year-old is the youngest runner in the line-up, with his age group being responsible for four of the past 11 winners of this prize. Clearly, there could be more to come from a horse who has had just five races over fences, but he’s now in at the deep end after running exclusively in handicaps over the larger obstacles. Rated 127 at the outset, he’s swiftly risen to a rating of 150. He signed off last season with bold-jumping wins at Doncaster and Warwick, and he might have resumed with another success at Cheltenham in October but for exiting at the final fence. The wet weather forecast this week will be to his advantage – he’s clearly well served by deep ground – and it will be interesting to see how the new kid on the block fares in what will be easily his toughest assignment. 

Official Rating: 170. Betfair odds: 1/3. 

 Nicky Henderson’s previous two winners of this race have been odds-on shots – Sprinter Sacre (2012) and Altior (2018) – and Jonbon will understandably be fancied to emulate them. His only defeats in 13 races have come when runner-up at the Cheltenham Festival in the past two seasons, behind Constitution Hill (in the Supreme Novices’) and El Fabiolo (Arkle). A strong stayer at 2m, he made a polished return at Cheltenham last month when forging clear of Edwardstone, Nube Negra and Editeur Du Gite in the Shloer Chase. He’s also 2/2 at Sandown, beating Boothill eight lengths in the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at the meeting last year, before returning in April to brush aside Captain Guinness in the Celebration Chase. Like 14 winners of this race since 2005, he’s a French-bred. He’s the one they all have to beat. 

Official Rating: 158. Betfair odds: 25/1. 

His CV includes two victories in the Shloer Chase, a surprise defeat of Altior plus a near-miss in the 2021 Champion Chase but his exploits in the past couple of years have been thin. Finished more than 16 lengths behind Jonbon in the latest edition of the Shloer Chase and he’s disappointed on his past couple of visits to this track. 

Jonbon’s prohibitive odds reflect that he has an outstanding chance of enhancing his claims of being this season’s top two-mile chaser, although El Fabiolo will again be waiting for him somewhere down the line. He’s difficult to oppose, although I would not be surprised if Edwardstone gave him more to think about than in the Shloer Chase last month. With Captain Guinness staying in Ireland, the pair should dominate.

1 JONBON. 2 EDWARDSTONE. 3 HADDEX DES OBEAUX. 4 BOOTHILL. 5 NUBE NEGRA