Running horses in the Imperial Cup at Sandown races on Saturday, 8 March comes with extra incentive. Any winner of the Class 2 Handicap Hurdle that goes in again during the Cheltenham Festival the following week scoops a £100,000 bonus.
It’s well worth winning and helps to focus the minds of trainers and owners on the Esher venue by targeting such a valuable prize. The pot for landing the Imperial Cup itself is over £51,000 this year alone.
A field 17 heads to Sandown Park in search of doing just that. It’s a busy time for traders pricing things up on horse racing betting sites with Festival declarations, but there’s always space for a hot Saturday handicap.
This year’s edition of the Imperial Cup is no different with the first five on the racecard all rated 132 and above. We had to tear our own horse racing experts away from pawing over Cheltenham for their thoughts on this race.
Imperial Cup Sandown Races Preview for 8 March
For many, the obvious place to start on an event like this is course and distance form. Four of the 17 are previous winners up the Esher hill on this track and trip. They are also older horses, however, and thus vulnerable to younger legs with more improvement in them.
December Handicap Hurdle hero Knickerbockerglory previously finished in the Imperial Cup frame twice. He couldn’t match 2023’s second place 12 months ago when only fifth, though. As a nine-year-old on a career high mark of 139, Dan Skelton’s charge also faces quicker going than ideal.
Ground conditions at Sandown races are good to soft on the hurdles course and drying out as the week goes on. That isn’t optimum for last year’s winner Go Dante. Also nine now, Olly Murphy’s runner is 2lb lower in the weights when successful here, but simply isn’t in the same form.
A year younger, meanwhile, is Hardy Du Seuil for the Jamie Snowden stable. It’s more than two years since he last won, however, and he’s still somehow 5lb higher in the handicap than when successful over course and distance. Will Featherstone takes 7lb off to help Hardy Du Seuil.
That leaves Ben Clarke mare Ooh Betty after a fine effort against fellow females in Grade 2 company. The fourth has won since; so, although the seven-year-old is 9lb higher than when winning on reappearance here, she must have claims.
Mullins Turns to Batman, Henderson at the Zenith?
Two of the top stables in the British Isles have Imperial Cup runners at Sandown races this year. Willie Mullins sends Batman Girac over from Ireland for this off the back of a final flight fall during the Dublin Racing Festival.
Owned by Simon Munir & Isaac Souede, the five-year-old was keeping on in a three-length second when coming to grief around Leopardstown the last day. Batman Girac has a harsh 6lb penalty for that last hurdle tumble, but connections must be having a go at the quickfire County Hurdle double.
Nicky Henderson drops Bo Zenith down in distance, meanwhile. A relatively new recruit to Seven Barrows after leaving Gary Moore following his juvenile campaign, this six-year-old had last season off. Bo Zenith ran well on his return when a never-nearer third at Cheltenham.
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Mirabad – not for catching at @CheltenhamRaces! @UrloxheyStables pic.twitter.com/oBMHf7R3Hr
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) December 13, 2024
He understandably then bounced when upped in trip around Ascot last time out. If now back to full race fitness, however, Bo Zenith is surely well-treated off a mark of 137. Topweight Lump Sum concedes 8lb and upwards all-round after his Newbury second, meanwhile, but has Dylan Johnston taking 3lb off for trainer Sam Thomas.
This Glamorgan yard has a canny knack of targeting weekend handicaps like the Imperial Cup. Besides landing the Welsh Champion Hurdle with Lump Sum, Thomas has also won the Badger Beer at Wincanton and Ladbrokes Trophy around Kempton over fences this season.
Wreckless Eric Out to Confirm Cheltenham Form
The race in which Bo Zenith ran third in could be a key piece of form for Sandown races. That’s because the re-opposing second, Wreckless Eric, fourth and fifth all take him on again. One of two entered for Jonjo O’Neill here, he came out of the back to chase home Mirabad but the bird had flown.
Wreckless Eric has since finished sixth in a valuable race around Windsor, a track that proved too sharp for him. Connections aren’t chasing any Cheltenham Festival bonus, so the Imperial Cup is the sole target. The return to a more galloping course should suit.
Back in fourth behind Wreckless Eric and Bo Zenith was Paul Collins’ To Chase A Dream. He is 1lb better off with the runner-up here, but has since been turned over at odds-on around Doncaster. That’s a blow to the hopes of one of the smaller yards of scooping Sandown success.
Spirits Bay faded into fifth at Cheltenham and is somehow 1lb lower for trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies and jockey son Sam despite running third in the Grade 2 International Hurdle on Festival Trials Day. This is much less demanding than racing against the mighty Constitution Hill. Big Ginge also runs for the yard.
We’re Red And Blue and Jonjo Jr. keeping on well to win nicely at Carlisle this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/w40B9IEUHi
— O’Neill Racing (@oneill_racing) November 11, 2024
The O’Neill stable also has another runner lurking at the foot of the weights and just 1lb out of the handicap. That is We’re Red And Blue, who beat the now 137-rated Jet To Vegas off level weights from the front around Carlisle in November. Both have scored since with the runner-up landing a Kelso Grade 2 last weekend.
We’re Red And Blue must be well-handicapped given the exploits of Jet To Vegas, then. Like Twiston-Davies, Paul Nicholls is no stranger to Imperial Cup success and runs battle-hardened campaigner Afadil and Sorceleur.
Imperial Cup 2025 Verdict
Obviously horses from top yards like Bo Zenith and Batman Girac command respect, as to past big race winners over course and distance such as Go Dante and Knickerbockerglory. The latter pair aren’t getting any younger, though, and the O’Neill pair of Wreckless Eric and We’re Red And Blue bring smart form on uphill finishes to the table.
That similarity between Cheltenham / Carlisle and Sandown shouldn’t be discounted. Of the previous course and distance winners lining up, Ooh Betty has to be on the shortlist. Drier ground is a concern for some of the others, and the long campaign through the winter might start catching up with a few as well.
