Master Minded vs Tidal Bay (and Fiepes Shuffle!) in Tingle Creek

Feature of an excellent card at Sandown today is the Tingle Creek Chase over 2 miles at 15.35 CET, named after one of the best 2 mile chasers of all time and always a top class event, in which trainer Paul Nicholls has an excellent record, having won 5 of the last 9 runnings. This time he has 3 of the 7 runners, including last year´s winner, the German-bred Twist Magic (Robert Thornton), but clearly the stable´s main hope is Master Minded (Tony McCoy), who won the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in spectacular fashion, and is as a reszlt now the highest-rated N.H. horse in training. Theoretically he must win today, but he faces strong opposition from Tidal Bay (Howartd Johnson/ Denis O´Regan), also an impressive Cheltenham winner last March, who has already shown that he is in good form this autumn. From the German point of view the most interesting runner is Christian von der Recke´s front-runner Fiepes Shuffle (Jamie Moore), who runs his best races here and if he gets an uncon tested lead, might be able to hang on to third place. The Grade Two Hwenry VIII novics chase, also over 2 miles, at 15.00 only has 5 runners but is also a fascinating race which could again go to Nicholls and McCoy with Free World with Johnson and O´Regan supplying one of the main dangers in Astarador. Strangely, there is another runner on the card named Free World, this one trained by Carl Lllewellyn and ridden by O´regan, and he also has a good chance of winning the handicap hurdle at 14.25, where Earth Crystal (Nicky Henderson(/ McCoy) is the obvious danger. The opening novice hurdle at 13.50 is another good race; Clay Hollister (Henderson/ McCoy) is the likely favourite despite a long layoff, but German-bred World Shift (Evan and Chridstian Williams), a half-brother to Well Chief, could figure much more strongly this time. The card ends with the London National, a 3 3/4 mile handicap chase at 16.35, which will require plenty of stamina on the likely testing ground. Rambl ing Minster (Keith and James Reveley) and Nine de Sivola (Ferdy Murphy/ Graham Lee) are two possible contenders here from the North.

Betting forecast:
1.Race: Clay Hollister - Quiver Hill - Comkilred Champ
2.Race: Earth Crystal - At The Money - Court Ruler
3.Race: Free World - Araldur - Cheating Chance
4.Race: Master Minded - Tidal Bay - Takeroc
5.Race: Tchico Polos - Blue Shark - King`S Revenge
6.Race: Kilbeggan Blade - Hello Bud - Rambling Minster