Nicky Henderson broke rule with Jango Baie - now he relies on him for seventh Scilly Isles success

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Nicky Henderson must have been delighted when Willie Mullins decided to stay at home with Impaire Et Passe as that leaves Jango Baie as the red-hot favourite.

His form entitles him to be such a warm order, too, because he was an impressive winner on his chasing debut at Cheltenham when he stormed up the hill to beat Springwell Bay by six and a half lengths, with the same distance back to Grade 1-winning hurdler Caldwell Potter.

Springwell Bay made that form look very good when brushing aside a field of seasoned handicappers to easily land a hot handicap at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day and even Caldwell Potter has run well in defeat since at Windsor, albeit no match for Gidleigh Park.

Henderson admitted afterwards that "my rule is to not come here [Cheltenham] first time over fences", so he must have had lots of confidence in Jango Baie. The trainer has run only 12 chasing debutants at Cheltenham since the start of 2010, but four were successful.

Among the four winners was Captain Conan, who went on to land this race in 2013, and Jango Baie achieved a 3lb higher Racing Post Rating than him on his chasing debut victory at Cheltenham. Jango Baie should be up to the task.

He does need to reverse last season’s hurdles form with Handstands, though. The Ben Pauling-trained runner beat Jango Baie by a length and a half in the Sidney Banks at Huntingdon last February, although Jango Baie was conceding 5lb to his big rival that day.

Handstands: winner of the Towton Novices' Chase

Handstands: winner of the his last two starts over fencesCredit: Steve Davies

Kalif Du Berlais and Mark Of Gold complete the four-runner field and a win for Kalif Du Berlais would put Paul Nicholls back on Henderson’s tail in the list for most wins in the race.

Nicholls won it four times in a row from 2006 to 2009, but hasn’t had any success since and is two behind Henderson, who has recorded five of his six wins since Nicholls’ last victory.
Analysis by Graeme Rodway

What they say

Ben Pauling, trainer of Handstands
He's in very good form and I couldn't be happier with him. He's come out of Ffos Las bouncing, he's got a very progressive profile and it's a very competitive race. I'm going there in every hope he can be very competitive. It's a Grade 1 with three very nice horses, two of whom are particularly smart, but I have every confidence in our horse. I wouldn't change him for anything.

Nicky Henderson, trainer of Jango Baie
He was impressive on his only start this season – and his only start over fences – at Cheltenham. We're a little bit better off in the weights than we were last year with Handstands. It's a very good race as all four runners have chances.

Gary Moore, joint-trainer of Mark Of Gold
He's in good order and if you're not in it, you can't win it. He never ceases to amaze me and he won well at Ascot, though this is a much tougher assignment. He'll go in the ground and hopefully jump all the fences.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Kalif Du Berlais
The opinion seems to be he wants two and a half miles, though I'm not totally convinced. He's a horse with plenty of boot, he was very good the other day and he's only five. But if he stays the trip, he'll run a very big race. He's rated 152 now and he's getting 4lb off the other two main horses. He deserves to take his chances in a Grade 1. The only time we ran him in a Grade 1 last year was at Aintree when he was over the top after running in France before he came to us. You can put a line through that and he's a chaser, not a hurdler, so we're looking forward to it.
Reporting by Liam Headd

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