Equinties - Tingle Creek Saturday

Gm Equinauts

The weather is causing chaos every where today. If you’re not bunkered down in a pub, you’ll most likely be watching sport at home.

With Chepstow and Aintree off, we’re left with just Sandown and Wetherby for the main UK jumps meeting.

Hats off to all the horses and staff braving the conditions today.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

REJOICING

It’s fair to say that BILL JOYCE was quite impressive in the Winter Novices’ Hurdle yesterday.

Sticky conditions, slow ground, and he pretty much made all. He even kicked a few lengths clear of QUEBECOIS and PONY SOPRANO nearly a mile from home and he still wasn’t caught.

The same praise can be given to QUEBECOIS. He sat prominently early, but he did slip back a few places when PONY SOPRANO and BILL JOYCE took each other one. Ultimately, he wasn’t good enough, but he was only beaten by five lengths and he hasn’t lost much in defeat. Where next for BILL JOYCE?

Nothing was really said post-race, but with the yard set to run MISTER MEGGIT in the Challow, one can imagine he’ll skip the Challow in favour of something in the new year. Either way, he’s nice.

Later on the card, HANDSTANDS set pretty prominent fractions and won the Esher Novices’ Chase. Like BILL JOYCE, he was impressive, though are a few different things to mention.

Firstly, the run of WELCOM TO CARTRIES was notable. It was his first run of the season and first run after a wind-op, though he ran well before just needing the fitness at the end. He’s one to watch.

The second thing to note is just the depth of novice chasers Ben Pauling has at his disposal. Him and THE JUKEBOX MAN have plenty of ability about them, so it makes sense why Pauling is sad about the lack of a Turners Novices’ Chase.

On the two of them, Pauling said: "This lad looks like he stayed very well today, and The Jukebox Man has brilliant speed – we're not Willie Mullins, we're not going to run them against each other in a hurry. We'll see how Handstands comes out of the race and we'll take it as we find it. He's a staying chaser for the future."

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