Betfair Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle – Sandown Park – Saturday 8th March

There’ll be a few bonus hunters lining up in Saturday’s Betfair Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle at 2.25 at Sandown Park, but in truth since the days of the Pipe stable farming it, there hasn’t been too many horses who have even looked like winning this race and then going to also prevail at next week’s Cheltenham Festival.

There wouldn’t look to be too many obvious candidates this time around either, and so it’s best to focus on solely finding the horse most suited and ready to win Saturday’s feature race. Which is of course where you would start the dissection of all races anyway!

At 12/1 generally each-way, Ooh Betty looks to have been slightly overlooked by the early prices, and I would certainly have her vying for ante-post favouritism with perhaps Lump Sum, the runner-up to the massively impressive Joyeuse in Newbury’s William Hill Handicap Hurdle.

In a normal year, Lump Sum would have been an impressive winner of that valuable handicap, but that’s not considering the horse who is set to be supplemented for the Mares Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. More of that later…

Saturday’s race features a clutch of different horses however and potentially a few more that have scope to improve. One who has improved no end over the last 2 years is Ooh Betty, and from an opening handicap mark of 93, she has steadily taken steps forward to her now lofty perch on 132.

I strongly believe her rise hasn’t stopped yet too, as she was much better than the bare form at Ascot in a Listed Mares’ Hurdle behind Take No Chances and Kargese. For regular followers of these pages, you will know that I am sweet on that form-line as Take No Chances has continually been under-rated and Kargese has a great chance for the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next week.

So, on a course and distance where she has scored before, off the back of an under-rated career best run and with drying ground very much in her favour, the 12/1 each-way generally about Ooh Betty looks a decent 1-star * ante-post play.