Scilly Isles Novices Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Explore the Scilly Isles Novices Chase at Sandown, a prestigious Grade 1 race over 2 miles and 4 furlongs. Delve into past winners, top trainers, and jockeys while uncovering key trends that shape this thrilling event for novice chasers.
Scilly Isles Novices Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2026 Scilly Isles Novices Chase Preview

Scheduled to take place in early February of each year at the Sandown racecourse is the Scilly Isles Novices Chase, a Grade 1 that is open to runners aged five or older who are novices over fences. It is contested over a distance of just over two miles and four furlongs during which a total of seventeen fences will be faced.

Won by the likes of Best Mate, Oscar Whisky, Bristol De Mai, Defi Du Seuil and Sporting John in the past, this race can throw up a decent future chaser.

Scilly Isles Novices Chase Information:

We also have a dedicated Sandown tips page that will cover this race as well as all of the other races on the day of the race, see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are predicting to win this race and the others on the cards. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Sandown Racecourse section for links to these.

Best Horse Racing Betting Sites 2025
ALSO READ

Best Horse Racing Betting Sites 2025

How competitive is the Scilly Isles Novices Chase market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2010 when the race had an over-round of 107%. The race in 2011 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 118%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Scilly Isles Novices Chase, the over-round has been 110%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £110 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2026 Scilly Isles Novices Chase Trends, see which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal, we also have a section that looks at the Scilly Isles Novices Chase Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Scilly Isles Novices Chase over the last 20 renewals:

  1. For Non Stop (4:50.90) in 2012
  2. Napolitain (5:08.00) in 2006
  3. Medermit (5:09.20) in 2011

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Scilly Isles Novices Chase next time out then you would have backed a total of 5 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -4.25. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page to access the OLBG racing picks easily daily.

The runner that holds the record over the past 20 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2014 renewal when Oscar Whisky from Nicky Henderson under the guidance of Barry Geraghty, won in a time of 5:33.74, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, For Non Stop, trained by Nick Williams and ridden by Noel Fehily set the quickest time of 4:50.90 in the 2012 renewal.

What the expert says...
Between 2008 & 2024, fourteen of the seventeen winners went on to run at the Cheltenham Festival next time out, however, only two of those went on to win with Defi Du Seuil (2019) in the Turners Novices Chase and L'Homme Presse (2022) in the Brown Advisory Novices Chase.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Scilly Isles Novices Chase Past Winners

Here are the Scilly Isles Novices Chase past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Scilly Isles Novices Chase are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorseInfo
2025
5:23.01
Handstands (IRE)
6yo 11-7 100/30
Ben Jones
Ben Pauling (GB)
2024
5:11.00
Nickle Back (IRE)
8yo 11-7 10/1
James Best
Sarah Humphrey (GB)
2023
5:11.30
Gerri Colombe (FR)
7yo 11-7 10/11F
Jordan Gainford
Gordon Elliott (IRE)
2022
5:19.50
LHomme Presse (FR)
7yo 11-4 8/13F
Charlie Deutsch
Venetia Williams (GB)
2021
5:26.40
Sporting John (IRE)
6yo 11-4 14/1
Richard Johnson
Philip Hobbs (GB)
2020
5:21.85
Itchy Feet (FR)
6yo 11-4 7/1
Gavin Sheehan
Olly Murphy (GB)
2019
5:12.90
Defi Du Seuil (FR)
6yo 11-4 7/2
Barry Geraghty
Philip Hobbs (GB)
2018
5:16.90
Terrefort (FR)
5yo 11-1 15/8F
Daryl Jacob
Nicky Henderson (GB)
2017
5:19.90
Top Notch (FR)
6yo 11-3 11/4
Daryl Jacob
Nicky Henderson (GB)
2016
5:14.65
Bristol De Mai (FR)
5yo 11-0 10/11F
Daryl Jacob
Nigel Twiston-Davies (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Scilly Isles Novices Chase have been based:

  • GB: 18 winners with an additional 15 placings from 100 runners
  • IRE: 2 winners with an additional 0 placings from 3 runners

Scilly Isles Novices Chase Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Scilly Isles Novices Chase over the last 20 renewals is Nicky Henderson who has won the race five times with those five winners coming from Punchestowns (2010), Captain Conan (2013), Oscar Whisky (2014), Top Notch (2017) and Terrefort (2018). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Scilly Isles Novices Chase are Paul Nicholls (4 wins) and Philip Hobbs (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Scilly Isles Novices Chase trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Nicky Henderson15-5-9-4.34-0.35
Paul Nicholls21-4-7-10.43-8.96
Philip Hobbs6-2-4+13.50+8.84
Alan King7-1-1-3.50-2.50
Nigel Twiston-Davies5-1-1-3.09-3.00
Nick Williams3-1-1+1.00+0.88
Venetia Williams3-1-2-1.38+0.70
Olly Murphy2-1-1+6.00+3.38
W P Mullins2-1-1+3.50+1.81
Ben Pauling2-1-1+2.33-1.00

Scilly Isles Novices Chase Jockey Statistics

Here are some of the top Scilly Isles Novices Chase jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Gavin Sheehan2-1-1+6.00+3.38
Charlie Deutsch2-1-2-0.38+0.70
James Best1-1-1+10.00+6.25
Ben Jones1-1-1+3.33+0.00
Jordan Gainford1-1-1+0.91+0.57
Harry Cobden6-0-0-6.00-5.00
Nico de Boinville5-0-2-5.00-1.49
Nick Scholfield3-0-1-3.00-1.00
Sam Twiston-Davies3-0-1-3.00-1.27
Sean Bowen2-0-1-2.00-1.22

Scilly Isles Novices Chase Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +14.75 is when runners ran on Soft ground when last winning.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners were 4th in the betting market, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-19.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Scilly Isles Novices Chase is Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 5 winners of this race who ran at Cheltenham last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 19 winners from a total of 99 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 4 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Scilly Isles Novices Chase:

  • Getaway (2 Wins)
  • Presenting (2 Wins)
  • Saddler Maker (2 Wins)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Sporting John in 2021, winning for Philip Hobbs at odds of 14/1 under the guidance of Richard Johnson. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 11 winning favourites in the race. Ahead of the 2026 Scilly Isles Novices Chase why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today?

Route to the Scilly Isles Novices Chase

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Scilly Isles Novices Chase, these are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2025 - Handstands
Ffos Las - 1st of 6 (1/1)
DragonBet Towton Novices Chase
2024 - Nickle Back
Kempton - 2nd of 4 (6/5)
Ladbrokes Wayward Lad Novices Chase
2023 - Gerri Colombe
Limerick - 1st of 5 (4/5)
Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase
2022 - LHomme Presse
Cheltenham - 1st of 8 (7/4)
Paddy Power Novices Chase
2021 - Sporting John
Exeter - 3rd of 6 (10/11)
Racing TV HD On Sky 426 Beginners Chase
2020 - Itchy Feet
Leicester - 1st of 3 (1/5)
Great Glen Novices Chase
2019 - Defi Du Seuil
Cheltenham - 2nd of 4 (5/2)
Betbright Dipper Novices Chase
2018 - Terrefort
Huntingdon - 1st of 7 (6/4)
Smarkets Chase
2017 - Top Notch
Ascot - 1st of 5 (4/5)
GL Events Owen Brown Graduation Chase
2016 - Bristol De Mai
Haydock - 1st of 5 (7/4)
Start Your RacingUK Free Trial Now Novices Chase

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Scilly Isles Novices Chase Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for National Hunt Racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for jump racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful national hunt racing blogs for OLBG.

No Comments

There are no comments here. Be the first to comment...

Please login or register to reply to this news article
KEEP READING
Burradon Stakes Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (AWC Finals Day)

Burradon Stakes Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (AWC Finals Day)

Dive into the Burradon Stakes at Newcastle Racecourse, a Listed mile race for three-year-olds. Explore past winners, trends, and insights into top-performing trainers and jockeys in this exciting event on the all-weather racing calendar.
Continue Reading
All-Weather Sprint Championships Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (AWC Finals Day)

All-Weather Sprint Championships Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (AWC Finals Day)

Analyze the speed, tactics, and trends behind past All-Weather Sprint Championships winners. Discover which strategies have repeatedly led to victory in one of Newcastle’s fastest and most thrilling races.
Continue Reading
All-Weather Mile Championships Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (AWC Finals Day)

All-Weather Mile Championships Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (AWC Finals Day)

Take a deep dive into the key stats and historical winners of the All-Weather Mile Championships. Learn which traits consistently shine through and how trends have shaped this testing race over the years.
Continue Reading