Pauling hoping for Handstands boost via Scilly success

Handstands bids to end a difficult week on a high for trainer Ben Pauling in the Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown.

The Naunton Downs handler suffered a major blow on Tuesday when he announced that his stable star The Jukebox Man, a brilliant winner of the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, would miss the rest of the season due to injury.

While Handstands has not yet scaled those heights, he gets his shot at Grade One glory on Saturday following successive Grade Two wins in the Esher Novices’ Chase at Sandown and the rescheduled Towton Novices’ Chase at Ffos Las.

The six-year-old is rated lower than Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie and the Paul Nicholls-trained Kalif Du Berlais, his two chief rivals in this weekend’s Esher feature, but Ben Pauling is confident his charge can make his presence felt.

“He’s in great order, he came out of Ffos Las brilliantly well and I couldn’t be any happier with him,” he said.

“There’s only four of us in it and four nice horses. Two of them are really particularly smart, but I think he’s earned his place and I probably wouldn’t swap him for anything, really.”

Handstands came home clear of a solitary rival at Ffos Las after the other four runners either fell or unseated their riders, but Pauling does not feel he was flattered.

He added: “You can only beat what’s in front of you and I may be proved wrong, but I would probably say that the reason everyone started falling like flies in the home straight was because he put the pressure on leaving the back straight and quickened again in the home straight.

“I think he deserves his chance at a big one and I can’t wait to see how he gets on.”

The trainer also provided a positive update on The Jukebox Man, who he hopes will return as good as ever later in the year.

He said: “Everything happens for a reason and his operation has gone well. He had his cast off today and they (vets) seem happy with his progress so far, so we’ll see how he is next week and probably get him home then.

“If all continues to go well, then he will be back in the autumn with everything to play for.”

Kalif Du Berlais would be a poignant winner of the Scilly Isles following the death of his part-owner John Hales, but it is Jango Baie who heads the market following an impressive start to his career over fences at Cheltenham in December.

In his Unibet blog, Henderson said: “We are obviously quite pleased that connections have decided to run Impaire Et Passe at the Willie Mullins Racing Festival (Dublin Racing Festival), but that doesn’t detract from the quality of this race, because it’s an extremely competitive affair.

“Jango Baie is 5lb better off at the weights with Handstands on their running in the Sidney Banks at Huntingdon, when he was second, beaten a length and a half, but that was a year ago, and over hurdles, so there is probably nothing between them.

“I thought Kalif Du Berlais was impressive at Cheltenham and that form has worked out well subsequently.

“Our horse has entries in the Arkle and Brown Advisory and we’ll see what happens here before we even consider looking at Cheltenham, but he’s in very good form and I am extremely happy with him coming into this.”

Gary and Josh Moore’s outsider Mark Of Gold completes the field.