Imperial Cup at Sandown

Sandown´s Imperial Cup, run this afternoon over 2 miles at 16.10 CET, is one of the best hurdle handicaps of the year and extra spice is added by the fact that sponsors, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, offer a substantual bonus if the winner goes on to score at next week´s N.H. festival at Cheltenham. This bonus has been targeted with great success by the Pipe stable, who have won this race 5 times in the last 7 years, with 3 of the winners going on to land the bonus. No wonder then that David Pipe´s Mr. Thriller (Tom Scudamore) is clear favorite here after winning both his British starts in fine style. Pipe´s second runner Seven is my Number (Timmy Murphy) is also fancied, but is coming off a long break, while Mr. Thriller has an awful lot of weight for a 4yo. Perhaps it will be better to conentrate on tow other trainers with an excellent record in such races, Gary Moore, who has 2 runners, and Nicky Hemnderson with 3. Dave´s Dream, desappointing last time, is the choice of He nderson´s stable jockey Barry Geraghty, but ex-German Stellino (Felix de Giles)- who has been off the track for almost a year- and Procas de Thaix (Bobby Killoran) must also be taken serioisly.

However our main fancy is Numide (Gary and Jamie Moore), who was strongly fancied to win the abandoned Totesport Trophy a month ago, ad has previosly been unlucky in a similar event at Ascot before Christmas. There are 21 runners here and probably 21 winning chances, with an interesting outsider in the 10yo Overstrand (Dr. Newland/ Charlie Huxley), who has not won for ages but is extremely well treated on his old form. Another very open race is the opening novice hurdlers handicap over 2 1/2 miles at 15.05. Pipe has another leading hope here in Big Eared Fran (Andrew J. McNamara), while others for the sahort list are Clay Hollister (Henderson/ Tony McCoy), Bakbenscher (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) and Quartz deThaix (Venetia Williams/ Sam Thomas).

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Big Eared Fran - Bakbenscher - Clay Hollister
2. Race: Zacharova - Fresh Air And Fun - Trigger The Light
3. Race: Mr Thriller - Numide - Seven Is My Number
4. Race: Kerada - Kentucky Sky - Golden Sunbird
5. Race: Deep Purple - Restless D`Artaix - Song Of Songs
6. Race: Sole Agent - Phar Again - Baseball Ted