Nap of the Day: It’s about time for a new Tingle Creek winner

It hasn't been a great week for my Nap of the Day selections, I must admit. Zero winners and four losers. Two done on the line.

Hopefully we can end on a high, courtesy of a Willie Mullins raider in the big race of the afternoon.

The brilliant Jonbon has won back-to-back renewals of the Tingle Creek and I'd absolutely love to see him complete the hat-trick for Nicky Henderson, JP McManus and Nico de Boinville at Sandown on Saturday.

However, I don't envisage that happening, which pains me to say as the 10-time Grade 1 winner, who's hasn't finished outside of the top two in his entire career, is probably my favourite horse in training.

Plain and simply, the nine-year-old appears to be regressing. Not only has the Seven Barrows star 'only' managed to win one of his last four starts, but his most recent effort in the Shloer Chase was undoubtedly his worst over fences.

I also don't like the fact he underwent wind surgery over the summer, or the introduction of cheekpieces for this weekend. It all feels a little bit desperate, unfortunately.

I think it's time for a new winner of the historic race - and the aptly-named IL ETAIT TEMPS fits the bill.

Willie Mullins' seven-year-old son of Jukebox Jury was a smart hurdler, but he took his form to completely new heights when going chasing around this time two years ago.

As a novice chaser he won four of six races, including three Grade 1s - the Irish Arkle at the Dublin Racing Festival, the Manifesto at the Grand National Meeting and the Barberstown Castle at the Punchestown Festival.

Unfortunately, he was sidelined through injury for the majority of last season, but he was brought back for the Celebration Chase over the Tingle Creek's course and distance in April.

He was electric that day, beating Jonbon by five-and-a-half lengths without having to be asked too many questions by Paul Townend.

A nice bit of exercise in County Tipperary, in an uncompetitive Clonmel Oil, ought to have put him spot on for this, which has reportedly been the target for quite a while now. He'll be primed to perfection and I expect him to confirm form with Jonbon.

As for L'Eau Du Sud, I need to see him repeat his performance in the Shloer Chase before getting too excited. I don't think he's 15 lengths superior to Jonbon, who didn't look himself at HQ, and although that Arkle form is working out extremely well, I'm not convinced he's improved as much as the victory suggests.

For me, Il Etait Temps will take the world of beating here.

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