imperial cup sandown saturday 8th march

[richard-westwood]

ground for all these big races has soft heavy lately ....think it trakes the edge off slightly but gotta have a bash ...... difficult race this ..........and the decent novices look highly penalised on their hcap debuts ................and with the soft ground also a factor im ruling out everything above 11-0 as this seems to be the cut off point and based on historical data for the race i.e I think the last 10 winners were all below this mark ........so that only leaves horses 9-14 horses 13 and 14 look very weak and winning form over hurdles a must I think so scrubbed leaving 9-12 overall I think the strongest looking form seems to be Baltimore rock who hails from the strong david pipe yard .......they have farmed this race over the years and look to have another very strong candidate here ....fits all the trends ......8/1 with Ladbrokes looks big .........but also theres a shout for fourth estate from the powerful n Henderson stable ...........showed a lot of promise when last seen in November and looks the typical Henderson type to put away and bring out out for a big race such as this well hcapped ........also fits the trends so the 17.5 on betfair looks too good to miss ....good value bets in a very tough race Baltimore rock 2pts win 8/1 lads fourth estate 2pts win 17.5 betfair

[BillyHills]

Re: imperial cup sandown saturday 8th march Tricky race and with a Venetia Williams, David Pipe and Nicky Henderson all with horses under 11st they look three likely candidates. Despite that i like the form of the Nicholls horse Vibrato Valtat, he took his time to get over the line in front but the form looks strong. Swing Bowler caught my eye last time in the Betfair, she finished strongly after being caught flat footed and is entered in two races at the Festival in which to go for the bonus although one is the mares race against Quevega! Scudamore has picked Baltimore Rock i would imagine of the two Pipe horses but i wouldn't rule out Swing Bowler who is unbeaten going this way round. 1pt EW Swing Bowler 8/1 Ladbrokes