Solid Sandown record might not be enough for super San Benedeto

1.50 Sandown
Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap Chase | 1m7½f | 5yo+ | ITV4/RTV

It is 13 years since Master Minded stormed up the Sandown hill to land this race en route to victory in the 2008 Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and his trainer Paul Nicholls has won it twice in the past decade, albeit not with anything of the great Master Minded’s ability.

Both of his winners, Hold Fast (2012) and Mr Mole (2015), were well-backed improvers but the Nicholls representative this year, San Benedeto, brings a different profile to the race.

The ten-year-old has been out of form in his recent starts but is now 15lb lower than his peak BHA rating and has a good record at Sandown, despite failing to register a win at the track.

San Benedeto has recorded two of his four highest Racing Post Ratings over course and distance, both behind Altior in the Grade 1 Celebration Chase, and there is nothing of that quality in this line-up. The question is how bright the fire still burns in San Benedeto at the age of ten.

January races on heavy ground are often the preserve of the Venetia Williams yard and the return to extreme conditions should suit Ibleo, who recorded his best effort when second behind Sky Pirate at Cheltenham last time. There should be more to come from him.

No trainer has made a bigger improvement than Tom Symonds, who has upped his strike-rate to 26 per cent this season and has struck with two of his last six runners. He also has an amazing record with runners off a break.

Hollywoodien has been off the track for 301 days since his career-best victory at Hereford in March, but this season Symonds has had three winners from five runners who were returning from a layoff of at least 300 days, and a £1 bet on all of them would have yielded a profit of £17.50.
Race analysis by Graeme Rodway

What they say

Paul Nicholls, trainer of San Benedeto
The trip will probably be a bit short and the ground a bit soft for him, but he's got to go somewhere and we thought we'd let him take his chance.

Venetia Williams, trainer of Ibleo
His last run at Cheltenham was respectable. We scheduled him to run at this meeting for his owners, but none of them can go, which is a big shame. He's hit the crossbar a few times this season and hopefully his time will come if he keeps running well.

Gary Moore, trainer of Early Du Lemo and Darebin
They've got a fair bit on their plate. Darebin beat Early Du Lemo at the track last month and both ran well, but this is a different grade of race, so they've got to up their game a bit. I feel Early Du Lemo will probably reverse the placings because of the ground and that was his first run after a long time off and he probably blew up. The ground won't be perfect for Darebin, but he should be okay on it and it'll slow the others down a bit.

Nick Gifford, trainer of Paddy's Poem
In hindsight I probably should have run him at Newbury on Tuesday as this looks much more competitive. He's had a long time off and will improve for the run, while he probably wants better ground, but we need to get him started. He got a knock this time last year and needed time. He could run nicely yet finish fifth, but I think he'll be a better horse in the spring on better ground.
Reporting by James Burn

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