Imperial Cup Saturday Preview

The Cheltenham Festival is now days away. Like a bank robber plotting a big heist, trainers are now finalising the small details, which getaway vehicle goes where, but most importantly, who drives them. This is a week where months of preparation, deep thinking and patience will either come to fruition or come crashing down abruptly.

However, before we hit the no stop Highway to Cheltenham, we have the small matter of Imperial Cup Day at Sandown. A race that in years gone by was the victim of a Martin Pipe stranglehold, with horses such as Gaspara winning at Sandown before going on to plunder more success at Cheltenham the following week.

I begin by jumping straight into the Imperial Cup coming up at 2:25. Balco Coastal is favourite and was last seen finishing second at Cheltenham in a Ballymore Trial in behind Alan King’s North Lodge. This will be an acid test for the Seven Barrows six year old, who takes his first step in a competitive handicap hurdle.

I’ll be taking him on with Neil King’s ultra consistent ONEMOREFORTHEROAD. This progressive seven year old has been ultra consistent this season, with form figures reading 41112. His Intermediate Hurdle success, when turning over the smart Soaring Glory was very taking and gutsy under an inspired, determined Jack Quinlan ride up on the front end. Watch out for the third that day Gowel Road at Cheltenham this week. He is quietly fancied to go well in the Coral Cup at a nice each way price.

ONEMOREFORTHEROAD was last seen finishing second in a hot Betfair Exchange Trophy at Ascot before Christmas behind the useful Tritonic. The form of that particular race has been boosted nicely, the enigmatic Goshen who finished seventh that day has since gone on to a pair of Grade Two successes in the form of the Select and Kingwell Hurdles respectively. A rise of a 1lb higher mark than what he ran off at Ascot seems very lenient as well as a victory over further which suggests the uphill finish at Sandown will only boost his chances here. Jack Quinlan gets a very good tune out of this horse and I believe he comes into this with a very nice chance.

The listed British Stallion Studs EBF Mares Bumper comes up at 3:00 and I’m a huge fan of the Milton Harris trained MULLENBEG.

This speedy mare whizzed around Ludlow effectively on the bridle in January and gave the indication that she was far from ordinary. MULLENBEG then went to Cheltenham and turned a hot listed bumper into an absolute procession, bounding up the Cheltenham hill to win snugly by five and a half lengths, with winning rider Mitch Bastyan riding out his claim in the process. Mitch retains the ride here. Hidden Beauty was pulled up in the race that day, but I’d be surprised if she reversed the form with MULLENBEG.

I was slightly disappointed to not see MULLENBEG stand her ground for the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham as I believed her odds of 14-1 were extremely generous. However, Milton is taking Rosy Redrum to that race and she could be a good each way get at around the 12-1 mark. I genuinely think this mare is very smart and could make up into a nice hurdler next season and I expect this lucrative prize to be heading back to Sutton Veny.

Thank you for reading, I hope you all have a fantastic Cheltenham week.

Imagery courtesy of JTW Equine Images.

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