Imperial Cup at Sandown

Sandown traditionally hosts a strong card on the Saturday before Cheltenham and today is no exception. The listed Imperial Cup, a 2 mile handicap hurdle at 16.15 CET, is the main feature and today´s field with 24 runners looks really tough. The big bonus for the winner who goes on to ccore at Cheltenham next week always attracts plenty of bounty hunters and the Pipe stable has targeted this with great success over the years. This time they have Master of Arts (Tom Scudamore) entered, and although he has not run over hurdles for almost 3 years, he looks the one to beat. However on flat form he is not as strong as Ted Spread (Paul Nicholls/ Ruby Walsh), who was most impressive when winning a small race at Taunton last time. Ile re Re (Ian Williams/ Harry Skelton) is another relatively unexposed hurdler who has plenty to offer, while Sire de Grugy (Gary and Jamie Moore) is for us hard to fancy under top weight. Thoselooking for a long shot could consider German-bred El Dancer (L ucy Wadham/ David Elsworth), whose trainer and jockey won this race last year.
Main supporting feature is the novices handicap hurdle final at 15.05, which looks almost as difficult. Our 3 against the field here are Off the Ground (Emma Lavelle/ Noel Fehily), Speed Master (Nicky Henderson/ Barry Geraghty) and bottom weight Presenting Ace (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore). We also like Martys Mission (Nicholls/ Walsh) at 15.40, while the same team´s Sanctuaire looks a certainty at 17,25, but will not be at a working man´s price.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Speed Master - Carrigmorna King - Dualla Lord
2. Race: Martys Mission - Song Sung Blue - Qhilimar
3. Race: Ted Spread - Master Of Arts - Sire De Grugy
4. Race: Call Me A Star - Taradrewe - Eleven Fifty Nine
5. Race: Sanctuaire - Gracchus - Prince Buster
6. Race: Aldertune - Cool Friend - You Know Yourself