Top tracks: Sandown

The Tingle Creek is the season's first Grade One race

Sandown's first fixture was held in torrential rain in April, 1875 and attracted just a handful of spectators.

But its fame grew over the next 15 years, mainly due to the advent of the Eclipse Stakes, a Flat race which offered twice the prize money of the Epsom Derby.

  Sandown's big races

Tingle Creek (2m) December

Mildmay Cazalet Chase (3m5f) January

Tolworth Hurdle (2m) January

Agfa Diamond Chase (3m) February

Scilly Isles Novices Chase (2m4f)

Imperial Cup (2m) March

Attheraces Gold Cup (3m5f) April

Sandown came close to closure in the 1960s but huge investment in the facilities in 1972-73 attracted the punters back and its future now looks secure.

The track is a right-handed 1m3f circuit with an uphill run-in.

One of the features of the tricky chase course is the Pond Fence, the third obstacle from home which horses must jump as they turn into the run-in.

Sandown hosts the first Grade One race of the season in the shape of the two-mile Tingle Creek Chase.

But it is best known for the last big race of the season, the Attheraces Gold Cup (previously known as the Whitbread Gold Cup), a handicap for stayers run at the end of April.

The race is the highlight of a card that uniquely combines both National Hunt and Flat racing.

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