Races
PREVIEW | Sandown Finals Day: The bet365 Celebration Chase
Seven runners line up in the Grade 1 Celebration Chase at Sandown on Saturday
The final Grade 1 event of the season comes on the Jumps Finals Day card at Sandown, in the form of the bet365 Celebration Chase.
Racing gets underway at 1:55, with the Grade 1 contest starting at 3:05 and the feature race of the day, the bet365 Gold Cup, following after at 3:40.
Henry De Bromhead is hunting another top-grade success on British soil and holds the favourite in this contest, in the form of Champion Chase heroine Put The Kettle On (13/8).
The seven-year-old became the first mare to win the leading minimum-distance chase at the Cheltenham Festival, getting the better of the improving Nube Negra and superstar Chacun Pour Soi in the final stages.
This is arguably a less daunting task for the dual Festival winner, but she faces a new competitor in returning star Altior (3/1).
Nicky Henderson’s talented chaser has won the last three renewals of the Celebration Chase and if he can bounce back to his best, he will be a serious threat to the Irish mare.
2019 runner-up Sceau Royal (7/2) needs to find three and three-quarter lengths on Put The Kettle On after finishing fifth in the Champion Chase last month but Alan King’s versatile servant can build on his Game Spirit Chase victory here.
Greaneteen (11/2) ran a huge race at big odds in the two-mile Grade 1 contest at Cheltenham for Paul Nicholls, finishing half a length behind Chacun Pour Soi on the second day of the Festival.
The seven-year-old will want a quick pace here and he could well be in the mix if he can continue to show improvement at the top level. He is joined by stablemate Dolos (33/1) who is still hunting for a first Graded success.
Ann Hamilton’s Nuts Well (14/1) produced a bold bid on his Grade 1 debut earlier in the month when finishing second behind Fakir D’oudairies in the Melling Marsh Chase at Aintree, while Ornua (33/1) takes up the second-string role for Henry De Bromhead.
An interesting renewal of the Celebration Chase lies in wait for jumps fans at Sandown on Saturday.
SELECTIONS:
*Odds courtesy of bet365 and are subject to change.
