Greaneteen gets green light from Tingle Creek Chase backers
Sandown's Betfair Tingle Creek Chase is light on numbers but heavy on quality, in what is a truly fascinating renewal this year.
Shishkin, Edwardstone, Gentleman De Mee and defending champion Greaneteen all bring Grade One form to the table this afternoon, but preference is for the last-named runner who saves his very best for the Esher venue.
Paul Nicholls' charge has won three of his four starts over course and distance, with only former stablemate Politologue able to beat him so far, and he has certainly proved he is firing on all cylinders already this time after hacking up in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter.
He gave weight and a comprehensive beating to his rivals last month and while they were not the calibre of this opposition, Greanteen was far from all out in victory and can be expected to improve a notch or two from the outing.
Greaneteen has to reverse a ten-length defeat at the hands of Shishkin last Christmas and had the latter not endured a disappointing end to last season with a well-publicised bone issue, he would be almost unopposable here - but with that slight niggle of doubt following such a blip, Greaneteen may be the safer choice.
Shishkin's stablemate Jonbon should ensure the Nicky Henderson team goes home with a Grade One prize as he can justify skinny odds in the Close Brothers Henry VIII Novices' Chase.
The only defeat of his sevenrace career came at the hands of Henderson's exceptional hurdler Constitution Hill last year and it made sense to switch Douvan's full-brother to the chasing sphere this term.
Jonbon duly made a perfect debut at Warwick last month, making all for an effortless seven-length verdict over Monmiral,
with his jumping already looking pretty slick.
Class is also to the fore at Aintree, where the Boylesports Many Clouds Chase features Grade One winners in Ahoy Senor and Chantry House, plus the Grand National hero Noble Yeats.
Ruth Jefferson's Sounds Russian comes in with a much lower profile having done all his racing round the smaller tracks, but he can put up a good showing on what is a big leap in class. Winner of four of his six chasing starts, Sounds Russian really impressed with a cosy defeat of Aye Right on his first attempt at three and a quarter miles on his seasonal bow at Kelso.