Paddy Power Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle |
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| Grade 3 Handicap Hurdle, Sandown Park 14:25 £75,000 added, 4yo plus, 1m 7f 216y, Class 1  |
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| Saturday 7th March 2020 - Abandoned | |
Saturday Racing Abandoned. After 18mm of rain yesterday the course is waterlogged and unfortunately racing on Saturday has been abandoned. Customers are entitled to a refund and will receive communications shortly regarding the process.
— Sandown Park (@Sandownpark) March 6, 2020
The meeting at Sandown has been called off due to a waterlogged track.
The meeting scheduled for Friday was cancelled on Thursday, and officials were due to hold an inspection at noon to assess the prospects for racing.
However, further rain on Thursday has left both courses waterlogged.
Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: “Delaying the inevitable to wait until noon to inspect after yesterday’s rain. Too many problem areas to improve in time so sadly we’re off.”
The Evan Williams-trained Mack The Man made a successful start to his campaign at Warwick in November, before following up impressively over the Imperial Cup course and distance the following month.
He was brought down at the final flight when still in contention for the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury on his latest appearance and his connections are hoping compensation awaits this weekend.
"He seems fine since Newbury. He's had a few schools and everything was grand," Williams told Sky Sports Racing.
"What happened at Newbury is just racing, isn't it? That's what happens in those competitive handicaps.
"Like all those handicappers, it all depends on if they're in form or if they've got a few pounds up their sleeve, or if they've got conditions on the day that they want.
"We're happy with him and he's fresh and seems very well in himself."
Having stepped back in to sponsor the Imperial Cup, Paddy Power have also reinstated a £100,000 bonus for the winner, should they follow up at next week's Cheltenham Festival.
Williams added: "It's lovely that they've put the bonus up - it adds to the interest. Everybody would like to try to win it and we're no different, but we'll take one step at a time.
"It will be awfully difficult to win on Saturday, never mind win again next week. It's good publicity and nice to talk about - and if we were lucky enough for the cards to fall right, it would be very tempting to have a go."
Paul Nicholls calls upon Malaya and Tamaroc Du Mathan.
Owner Harry Redknapp was on hand to see Shakem Up’Arry do his final piece of work ahead of the race on Saturday.
The former footballer and successful manager, pundit and reality TV star would have been pleased with the way the exercise went at Ben Pauling’s Gloucestershire stables.
Pauling was delighted to see Redknapp as the workout went without a hitch.
“The owner came in this morning to see him do his final piece of work before Saturday. All went well and it’s great to have him involved,” Pauling told Sky Sports Racing.
“His bumper form was very good and this season obviously he tipped up at Leicester, but he’s been beaten by Mister Coffey and Shishkin, which is by no means bad, and he seems to have been given quite a nice mark going forward really.
“He was in the Ballymore and the Albert Bartlett, but we thought off 127 in a handicap it would be very much worth seeing how we got on on Saturday first.
“He’s definitely going to be better over further, but he is just a very strong traveller in his races and a very good jumper as well on soft ground, which it will undoubtedly be on Saturday.
“A stiff finish like it will be, I think he will be a live contender. Off 127 he might be quite dangerous.”
Other leading contenders include the Philip Hobbs-trained Dostal Phil, who has a couple of entries at the Cheltenham Festival.
Paddy Power Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle
£75,000 added, 4yo plus, 1m 7f 216y, Class 1
19 remaining entries
Going: Heavy
NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 4P7-13 Totterdown 9 11-12 Fergal O'Brien Mr Liam Harrison
2 0-3602 Malaya 6 11-8 Paul Nicholls Bryan Carver
3 201-32 Elusive Belle 6 11-6 Nicky Henderson Mr Sam Waley-Cohen
4 5P-034 Jolly's Cracked It 11 11-4 Harry Fry Nick Scholfield
5 6-67P8 Speredek 9 11-4 Nigel Hawke Tom Cannon
6 F1234 Sir Valentine 7 11-4 Nigel Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies
7 1/205 Tamaroc Du Mathan 5 11-3 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden
8 2P3P17 West To The Bridge 7 11-2 Dan Skelton William Marshall
9 2/P312 Bullionaire 7 11-2 Harry Fry Jonathan Burke
10 2P-11B Mack The Man 6 11-1 Evan Williams Adam Wedge
11 2021-1 Dostal Phil 7 11-1 Philip Hobbs Barry Geraghty
2 12210 Neff 5 11-0 Gary Moore Joshua Moore
13 511 Endlessly 5 10-13 Olly Murphy Richard Johnson
14 7F0151 Applesandpierres 12 10-11 Sophie Leech Ciaran Gethings
15 3-F22 Shakem Up'Arry 6 10-11 Ben Pauling Daryl Jacob
16 /31111 Main Fact 7 10-11 4ex David Pipe Mr Fergus Gillard
17 21132 Ashington 5 10-10 John Quinn Danny Cook
18 13/P62 Aiguille Rouge 6 10-4 Gary Moore Jamie Moore
19 688063 Man Of Plenty 11 10-0 Sophie Leech Paddy Brennan
