A weekend brim full of top class jump racing Wow, what a weekend in store! The jumps season really hits top gear with Grade 1 action on both sides of the Irish Sea, a galaxy of exciting novices, highly competitive and valuable handicaps plus some old favourites thrown in for good measure. The Betfair Tingle Creek Chase takes pride of place today at Sandown (2.25pm) with Chacun Pour Soi and Captain Guinness facing a home brigade of Nube Negra, Greaneteen and Hitman in what should prove a pulsating four minutes of action. Sandown also hosts the Grade 1 Close Brothers Henry VIII Novices’ Chase (1.50pm) where Third Time Lucki heads the market against seven rivals including Edwardstone and Il Ridoto. There is no better spectacle for National Hunt fans than the National fences at Aintree and that box is ticked as well with the Unibet Becher Handicap Chase at 2.40pm which includes the Irish-trained quartet Chris’s Dream, Tout Est Permis, Snow Falcon and Ravenhill among a 22-runner field. An eight-race card at Aintree which commences very early at 11.15am also sees a quality line-up for the Grade 2 Unibet Many Clouds Chase (2.05pm), while there are four Irish runners — White Pepper, Sea Sessions, Six Feet Apart and Calvados — in the Unibet-sponsored Listed Fillies’ Juvenile Hurdle (1.30pm). The domestic action is an eight-race Navan card featuring the Grade 2 Navan Novice Hurdle (12.33pm), Grade 3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Klairon Davis (1.43pm) where the exciting Riviere D’etel is seeking a hat-trick, plus a couple of highly competitive handicaps and an 18-runner beginners’ chase brim full of talent. Having said all that, the best is probably saved until Sunday where 11 go to post in the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase (2.00pm). This 2m4f event has been won in recent times by the likes of Min, Sizing John, Djakadam and Don Cossack but the latest renewal looks the deepest yet with seven runners holding a current rating in excess of 160 and that doesn’t include Grand National winner Minella Times! Cheveley Park Stud hold a strong hand with Envoi Allen and Allaho both declared while Willie Mullins’ seven runners also includes Asterion Forlonge, Kemboy and Melon. The supporting card at Punchestown isn’t too shabby either with all eyes on Ferny Hollow as the former Cheltenham Festival bumper winner switches to fences in the BetVictor Beginners Chase (2.35pm). Mullins rolls out more of his strong battalion at Cork on Sunday with the exciting Energumene sure to go off at odds-on against five rivals in the Grade 2 Kerry Group Hilly Way Chase (2.20pm). Sean O’Keeffe takes the mount on the dual Grade 1 winner and it promises to be a really significant afternoon for the young rider as he also partners Kilcruit and Dysart Dynamo on their respective jumping debuts in both divisions of the Follow Us On Instagram Maiden Hurdle (12.10 and 12.40pm). Magic Daze scored in blistering fashion here last month and now faces Concertista, yet another important ride for O’Keeffe, in the Grade 2 O’Flynn Group Irish EBF Mares Novice Chase (1.45pm). Across the water at Huntingdon, the Fitzdares Peterborough Chase (1.52pm) is another quality event with Allmankind, First Flow, Master Tommytucker and Eldorado Allen among the six runners in this 2m4f Grade 2. The stayers are also catered for at Kelso on Sunday with the Lilburn Estate Scottish Borders National Handicap Chase (1.03pm).
