Sandown racecourse will stage another premier meeting this weekend, as the 2025 Tingle Creek Christmas Festival gets underway.
Two days of elite racing action in the Surrey countryside will garner the attention of racing fans across the UK, with the National Hunt season now well underway.
Racegoers can look forward to four Graded races – two of which are Grade Ones – as well as a Listed hurdle race which are the highlight of 13 races running across the two days.
Here is everything that you need to know as Sandown welcomes the 2025/26 National Hunt season rolls into the festive period.
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When is the 2025 Tingle Creek Festival?
Friday, December 5 boats a six-race card, with the curtain raiser – The Daily Tips On Betting.Betfair ‘Introductory’ Juvenile Hurdle – due off at 12:35pm.
It will precede the running consecutive Grade Two contests, the Betfair Winter Novices’ Hurdle race and the Betfair Esher Novices’ Steeplechase, due off at 1:45pm and 2:20pm.
The Betfair Exchange Claremont Novices’ Listed Hurdle race opens the seven-race card on day two of the meeting.
Due off at 12:10pm, on Saturday, December 6, the race will open the show on a day that will see two Grade One races highlight the meeting.
The festival’s namesake and showpiece race – the Betfair Tingle Creek Steeplechase – will run at 3pm, but not before the running of the Betfair Henry VIII Novices’ Steeplechase.
The former is the penultimate race of the meeting, followed by the London National Handicap, whilst the latter is due off at 1:50pm.
Trainers to watch
Dan Skelton
Dan Skelton was the unlucky loser of last season’s British Trainers’ Championship, having led the standings for the vast majority of the campaign.
He has kicked off this season in the same fashion, leading the way by just under £1m in prize money.
Skelton has a course strike rate of 14% over the last five seasons and whilst this isn’t spectacular, the depth of talent at his stable make him a noteworthy trainer whenever his horses run.
Willie Mullins
Similar comments apply to last seasons’ Champion Trainer Willie Mullins, who doesn’t place in the top five Sandown trainers over the last five campaigns.
The Irishman pipped Skelton to the Champion Trainer title after a stellar ending to last season, in which he trained the first two home in the Grand National.
His recent form isn’t outrageous, but he can turn it on at any given moment, something we have seen already in recent weeks when he won the Breeders Cup Turf with 25/1 shot Ethical Diamond – a horse who once ran the Scottish Champion Hurdle.
Olly Murphy & Paul Nicholls
Following Skelton in the standings is Olly Murphy, who is around £80,000 ahead of Paul Nicholls, a man whose yard likes it at Sandown.
The former records a 28% win rate at Sandown over the last five seasons, whilst the latter has trained the most winners from the same time period (29).
Nicholls has seen his yard take home the feature races at the meeting more than any other trainer; he has trained 12 winners of the Tingle Creek since 1999.
Other trainers
Other trainers to watch include dual purpose trainer James Owen – who is fourth in the Trainers’ Championship standings – as well as joint trainers Gary and Josh Moore.
The latter duo have trained 20 course winners since 2021, nine fewer than Nicholls but five more than anyone else.
Nicky Henderson has trained 15 course winners over the last five seasons including Jonbon – winner of the Tingle Creek the last twice.
Jockeys to watch
Sean Bowen & Harry Skelton
Champion jockey Sean Bowen never seems to do anything wrong every time he is in the saddle; he has placed in 21 of his last 34 rides – winning seven times.
His form is reflected in the current Jockeys’ Championship standings, where he leads the way by 126 wins – and though he has ridden in over 300 more races than second-placed Harry Skelton, he does record a better strike rate so far this season.
The former’s is 26% whilst Skelton’s is 24% and it was the latter who suffered late heartbreak on board Champion Hurdle favourite The New Lion, last weekend.
Nico De Boinville
Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle saw a repeat of the Champion Hurdle, as the dramatic return of Constitution Hill ended in tears as he came to grief at the second hurdle.
The New Lion then fell at the same flight of hurdles a circuit later, leaving Champion Hurdle winner Golden Ace to fight off Irish challenger Anzadam to claim the win.
Henderson’s ever-pragmatic stable jockey Nico De Boinville was back in the saddle on board Constitution Hill, after missing the end of last season with an injury.
Harry Cobden
He has ridden 13 (22% win rate) Sandown winners over the last five years, one more than Skelton, but the pair of them are bettered by Harry Cobden’s 22 total.
Cobden will arrive at this meeting as a man in form too, having placed in all of his last 24 rides – winning nine of them.
He boasts a 25% win rate this season and sits sixth in the Champion Jockey standings, ahead of Brian Hughes and Ben Jones.
Other jockeys
The latter’s prolific partnership with trainer Ben Pauling continues to bear fruit, whilst he has also won 26% of his rides at Sandown over the last five seasons.
He is another jockey to keep on side, whilst Gavin Sheehan – fourth in the Champion Jockey standings – and Hughes both come into this festival in fine form too.
The former has placed in 15 of his last 16 rides – winning six of them – and the latter has placed in 18 of his last 27 rides, also winning six of them.
Sam Twiston-Davies and James Bowen are placed either side of Sheehan in the Champion Jockey standings, with the three of them separated by four wins.
How to watch the 2025 Tingle Creek Festival?
Racing TV will screen all the action live for their subscribers only, whilst ITV will show the races live and for free – on terrestrial TV – via their ITV Racing programme.
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