It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and nothing rings in the festive season quite like the Tingle Creek Festival at the Surrey racecourse. Racegoers wrap up warm and enjoy the highlight of Sandown’s jump racing calendar. Racing and entertainment combine to make the perfect winter's day at the races. Tingle Creek Saturday plays host to 2 Grade 1 races with the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase and the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase. The latter is steeped in history making it one of the key races of the season.
On Tingle Creek Saturday, Frost “sleighed” on Paul Nicholls’ 12-1 chance, Greaneteen in the big race beating favourite Chacun Pour Soi. The jockey said, “being on the back of a horse is the most blissful place you can be... You let your thoughts go to the side and there’s no other place like it, when you’re gunning for him and he’s gunning for you, and you leave everything out there and ride and aim for that winning post.”
It has been a challenging week for Frost - who had to give evidence at a hearing against fellow jockey Robbie Dunne - and there’s no doubt she will be happy to once again be making headlines for her indisputable racing talent. Although there are clearly some hurdles left to jump, incredible female jockeys have come to the forefront of both jump and flat racing in recent years, ensuring they are some of the highest on the trainers’ contact lists.
If you missed out on the Tingle Creek Festival, Sandown has plenty of thrilling racedays to come in the new year. In early 2022, the racecourse hosts Tolworth Hurdle Day (8 January), Contenders Day (5 February), Royal Artillery Gold Cup Day (17 February), Grand Military Gold Cup Day (8 March), Imperial Cup Day (12 March), and the bet365 Jump Finale Weekend (22-23 April) with tickets already on sale for most of these meetings.
For those looking towards the summer months and flat racing, Sandown is famous for the Coral Summer Festival (1-2 July) featuring the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes.
If you can’t hold your horses, there’s still plenty of racing action throughout the UK and Ireland over the festive period. Cheltenham will hold the International Meeting from 10-11 December and Chepstow boasts the ever-exciting Welsh Grand National on 27 December. All this plus a sack-full of Christmas race meetings including ones at Ascot (17-18 December), Ayr (21 December), Leopardstown (26-29 December), and Kempton Park (26-27 December).
Don’t forget the assortment of New Year’s meetings with Warwick (31 December), Exeter (1 January), Musselburgh (1 January), and many more bidding farewells to 2021!
Share the good tidings by jingling all the way to the races with friends and family!
