The best Tingle Creek performances this century including Moscow Flyer
Tony McFadden highlights the five best winning efforts in the Betfair Tingle Creek this century, based on Timeform performance ratings
5) Sizing Europe (171 in 2011)
This was not a strong edition of the Tingle Creek but Sizing Europe, the previous season’s Champion Chase winner, scored decisively, completely outclassing his rivals on the way to an eight-length success. He jumped fluently and had far too much pace for Kauto Stone, who was readily put in his place in the straight.
3=) Moscow Flyer (174 in 2003)
This isn’t the Tingle Creek performance for which Moscow Flyer is best remembered but it was still a top-class performance in a vintage renewal. In beating the previous season’s Arkle winner Azertyuiop by four lengths, Moscow Flyer - the 2003 Champion Chase winner - confirmed his position as one of the best two-milers of the modern era. It would not be the last time his turn of foot would prove decisive.
3=) Altior (174 in 2018)
Altior jumped the final fence of a heavy-ground Tingle Creek level with a teak-tough, top-class rival who revelled in the mud. Yet there was a feeling of inevitability that Altior would still come out on top, for he had made a power-packed late surge his trademark. He duly delivered that late thrust, forging four lengths clear of Un de Sceaux, with a further 15 lengths back to the third, highlighting his dominance and extraordinary strength at the finish.
2) Flagship Uberalles (175 in 2000)
There have been some outstanding winners of the Tingle Creek but no horse has won the prestigious chase as many times as Flagship Uberalles, who dominated around the turn of the century, remarkably winning three years in a row (1999-2001) for three different trainers. His most impressive Tingle Creek success came in 2000, when he bolted up by 11 lengths under Richard Johnson for trainer Noel Chance. The race was staged at Cheltenham due to the cancellation of Sandown’s card, and the extra emphasis on stamina served Flagship Uberalles well as he forged clear from the second-last, producing arguably the best performance of his career.
1) Moscow Flyer (184 in 2004)
In one of the highest quality and most exciting races this century, Moscow Flyer fended off a pair of top-class rivals in Azertyuiop and Well Chief, producing a performance of outstanding merit. There were many high points during Moscow Flyer's stellar career – he won his first 19 completed starts over fences – but arguably no victory was more memorable than his second Tingle Creek triumph.
Moscow Flyer jumped well and there was a huge roar from the stands as he leapt to the lead at the fourth-last. He met the Pond Fence on a good stride and quickened decisively, gaining an advantage that he was never likely to relinquish. Two excellent jumps in the straight helped his cause and he kept pulling out plenty up the hill to win an eagerly-awaited battle that lived up to its billing and then some.
And a few notable omissions
Sprinter Sacre (169 in 2012)
The bare form of Sprinter Sacre’s 2012 Tingle Creek success was worth a rating of 169 but, of course, he could have run to a much higher figure had it been required, and just two starts later he produced a performance regarded by Timeform as the finest by a jumper in the modern era.
Arkle and Flyingbolt are the only two horses to have achieved a higher Timeform rating than the 192 Sprinter Sacre clocked in the 2013 Champion Chase, so it seems remarkable that Sanctuaire was regarded as a big threat prior to the Tingle Creek.
In the event Sprinter Sacre proved in a league of his own at Sandown, readily reeling in Sanctuaire – who paid the price for trying to stretch Sprinter Sacre – before sauntering to a 15-length success. The lack of meaningful opposition beyond a below-par Sanctuaire meant Sprinter Sacre didn’t have to run close to his novice form, but the style with which the victory was achieved offered a strong hint of what was to come.
Kauto Star (161 in 2005, 166 in 2006)
The 2005 Tingle Creek wasn’t a vintage renewal – certainly not compared to the fireworks produced by Moscow Flyer, Azertyuiop and Well Chief the previous year – and it’s doubtful racegoers would have left the course thinking they had seen a performance from a horse who would go on to rip up the record books.
However, Kauto Star went on to do just that, signing off seven seasons later having enjoyed unprecedented success, dominating from two miles to three and a quarter miles, becoming the first horse to regain a Cheltenham Gold Cup and the first horse to win five King Georges.
Kauto Star’s best effort over two miles came in the 2006 Tingle Creek, when he brushed aside Arkle winner Voy Por Ustedes by seven lengths, earning a rating of 166. He almost certainly would have surpassed that level at the distance had he been kept to two miles, but three weeks later he bolted up in the King George and was on his way to becoming the dominant staying chaser of the modern era. His peak rating of 191 has been bettered only by Arkle, Flyingbolt and Sprinter Sacre.
Master Minded (164 in 2008, 166 in 2010)
Master Minded, who like Kauto Star was owned by Clive Smith, trained by Paul Nicholls and mostly ridden by Ruby Walsh, was overshadowed to an extent by his great stablemate, and also tends to be overlooked when it comes to discussions about great two-mile chasers.
However, there’s no doubt he was a top-class operator and he twice won the Tingle Creek with ease, scoring by ten lengths in 2008 and eight lengths (in a rescheduled renewal at Cheltenham) in 2010.
He may have won eight Grade 1s but, rightly or wrongly, is best remembered for one performance above all others: a scintillating 19-length win in the Champion Chase when he was only five. There have been some outstanding efforts from two-mile chasers this century and that was one of them.
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