The big Saturday betting race is the Imperial Cup at Sandown, first run in 1907. This premier handicap is run over a distance of 1 mile, 7 furlongs and 216 yards. It is open to horses aged 4 years or older. Off time is 2.25.
With Cheltenham Festival being just 3 days away the sponsors offer a bonus to the owner of the winning horse if it goes on to win at the festival. Winners of this bonus have included Olympian, Blowing Wind and Gaspara. It is certainly worthwhile to consider the winner of this race if it goes on to appear at Cheltenham.
There is a bumper turnout of 18 with some bookmakers offering each-way terms of 5 or 6 places which makes this an excellent betting proposition.
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BEST TO BE FIT
The key stat is fitness. 53 horses have run in the race after having a layoff of 5 weeks or more and all have lost. All the winners had a rest period of 17 to 34 days with the 59 runners generating a profit of 60 points at SP.
The horse should be relatively experienced. The ideal number of career starts is between 8 and 20, these horses have recorded 6 wins from 57 runs with a profit of 44 points.
French bred horses do not have a good record with just 1 win from 36 runs.
3 horses match these criteria.
MAN O WORK – available at 12/1 with BET365 (5 places)
FINE CASTING – available at 16/1 with several bookmakers paying 5 places
METIER – available at 10/1 with Corals / Ladbrokes (5 places)
I suggest backing all 3 each way.
- All odds accurate at the time of writing, 11.59 am 10th Mar
