Imperial Cup takes centre stage

Sandown, Saturday 12 March: Top-class steeplechasing takes place at Sandown today, where the Imperial Cup (3rd race/15.25pm/100,000 pounds/3210m), run as a Handicap Hurdle, is one of the best races.

Balco Coastal (Nico de Boinville) was close to winning at Cheltenham at Group 2 level, he faces a solvable task. Onemorefortheroad (Jack Quinlan) and Hystery Bere (Aidan Coleman) also deliver nothing but top performances and should not be missing from any consideration. Lucky One (Harry Skelton) ran strongly enough in third at Ascot to have a say here. Hacker Des Places (Angus Cheledra) showed another upward trend when winning at Chepstow. Samarrive (Harry Cobden) will be given plenty of confidence as the December track winner.