Handstands just fends off Jango Baie in Scilly Isles thriller

Two promising youngsters fought out a thrilling finish to the Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown, with Handstands just getting the better of Jango Baie.

The pair had met at Huntingdon over hurdles last term and there was little to separate them then, but Jango Baie was slightly better off at the weights this time.

Handstands (100-30) had won two Grade Twos already over fences, proving he stayed three miles in early December before winning the rearranged Towton at Ffos Las.

Jango Baie had made a huge impression when prevailing on his chasing debut, though, and was sent off the 10-11 favourite for Nicky Henderson, to continue the trainer’s run of big-race wins.

But he could not get by the determined Handstands, who made almost every yard of the running.

Jango Baie briefly looked beaten before the Pond Fence, only for him to quickly come back on the bridle and appear the likely winner.

However, Handstands put that stamina to good use and when Ben Jones asked him for a big leap at the last, he delivered and that enabled him to hold on by a short head.

For the winning trainer Ben Pauling, it proved a real fillip coming in the same week that he was forced to rule stable star The Jukebox Man out for the season.

There was to be no fairytale win for Kalif Du Berlais, running in the colours of the late John Hales, with his stamina fading in the straight.

Pauling said: “He is a proper horse and we’ve always known it, it is just unfortunate when we dipped our toe in at Grade One level at Cheltenham last year he was flat as a pancake, I knew that from the second he jumped off that day.

“He’s come out this season and fell at Wincanton on ground that was far too quick and has since not put a foot wrong.

“After he won at Ffos Las, I expected him to be exhausted, but he came out of that race fresher and better than all season.

“We beat Jango Baie in the Sidney Banks last season and he has run a brilliant race in defeat. To make a race, you need two horses and you have to commend Nicky’s horse for running such a race. It was a ding-dong battle and they will be two proper horses going forward.

“We don’t think our lad does much in front, so I wasn’t too worried when Nico (de Boinville, on Jango Baie) came alongside, but it was a proper battle. It was a ding-dong but I was always confident Ben would hold on.

“We’ve had a rubbish week with Jukebox but we’re just very fortunate to have two horses of the same calibre as novices – and hopefully Jukebox will be back as good as new next season.”

Handstands does not hold any entries for the Cheltenham Festival and Pauling is adamant he will resist the temptation to supplement the six-year-old for Prestbury Park and is instead eyeing a step back up to three miles at Aintree later in the spring.

Pauling added: “He will probably go to Aintree. We haven’t got him in at Cheltenham and I can assure you there is unlikely to be any chat of Cheltenham.

“The Radfords are brilliant people to train for and we’ve got a plan and we will stick to it. It doesn’t matter that Jukebox has gone, everything else will not shuffle around. This lad has his own schedule and that is what we will stick to.

“If he’s good enough next year, we’ll be at Cheltenham with bells on, it’s not that he doesn’t handle Cheltenham. It’s just I was determined to bring him here and I tried not to run at Ffos Las – it was Tim (Radford) who said if the horse was healthy to run him there.

“We’ve managed to pull up two nice wins and it might be brave to then try and go to Cheltenham when Aintree could be beautifully timed.”

He went on: “This lad is only going to get better over further, he’s a proper stayer. But he’s got some speed as well and this is very good.”

For jockey Jones it continued his fine season in association with Pauling, adding a second Grade One to his tally having broken his top-level duck at Kempton on Boxing Day.

Jones said: “I don’t think this horse has had enough credit in his career and he’s still not the finished article. He’s raw and a big baby and it’s just exciting to see what he’s going to become.

“I got close to two out and Nico came alongside me, but I gave him an inch of rein and I’ve never experienced a horse take off and quicken the way he did. He’s got so much class and we’ve still not got to the bottom of him.

“It’s racing and there’s ups and downs all the time. I guess you could call him a super-sub for The Jukebox Man and to do what he did was impressive and I’m really happy.”

Although losing out to Handstands for the second time, Henderson’s charge Jango Baie lost little in defeat, as his trainer now ponders his next move.

Henderson said: “He was great and has done nothing wrong at all. It wasn’t ideal out there but it was the same for all of them and when you get done a short head it’s six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other.

“The next question is where to go next and I’m not convinced he wants to go up in trip, but I’m sure he would do better in better ground, but then that is the easiest thing to say after you have been beaten in that ground. He might be better on better ground, but he’s still jumped great and it’s only his second chase.

“He’s definitely a Grade One chaser, it’s just finding out what his trip is. If the Turners was there as a two-and-a-half mile chase, he would be there.

“The winner is waiting for three miles at Aintree and not going to Cheltenham, which is what we were thinking, so we will see.

“The owner has got Jingko Blue, who is going to go to the Reynoldstown, so we will see how he gets on there and if he stays that well, which he should do after Windsor, then we have two nice horses to play around with.”