Racing
Paddy Power Imperial Cup Preview
Saturday’s big meeting takes place at Sandown with the Imperial Cup being the big race on the card. A maximum field of twenty-four go to post with the J.P McManus owned Qaspal holding favouritism. He was a very impressive winner of his latest start where he romped to an easy two and three quarter length victory. He got into the race by the skin of his teeth and Philip Hobbs will be hoping to now land the big prize. The Pipe team have won five of the last ten runnings and were very disappointed when one of their leading chances didn’t make the line-up. If Hunterview were to get in at a late stage, he’d be one to keep an eye on.
It generally pays to stick with horses that are mid/low in the handicap. From looking at the form, there are two horses standing out; Qaspal and Press The Button.
Qaspal looks to be improving at a rate of knots. He has won his last two starts with any amount in hand. The last day he won at Sandown, he pulled for the whole race, not settling at all and still managing to win very cosily. I’m not sure the form amounts to much, but he couldn’t have won any better especially after pulling so hard for so long. With twenty-four horses lining up the race will most certainly be run to suit. He should settle much better in today’s race and he could still be very well treated, racing off a lenient mark of 124. A big chance with the champ on board.
My other fancy is the Jim Boyle trained Press The Button. He was very decent on the flat, having a lofty rating of 94, but is still unexposed over hurdles. He’s only had the three runs over hurdles, winning two and filling the runner-up berth on his third start. The form isn’t bad and has been franked to a certain degree. A couple of the horses he beat now have higher ratings then him. To me, that indicates he’s ahead of the handicapper and looks to have been laid out for this race. He has also come in for support in recent days, being backed from fourteens to tens. My one concern is his lack of a recent run but he should still go well.
I fancy both horses so my advice is to have a win bet on Qaspal and an each-way bet on Press The Button. Paddy Power are paying the first five home so that’s an added incentive for the each-way bet.
