Horses: Balco Coastal Can Rescue Beleaguered Imperial Cup Punters
Sandown and Wolverhampton provide the racing action broadcast live on ITV this Saturday. The Paddy Power Imperial Cup is the day’s feature contest. This valuable handicap hurdle, despite always attracting big field sizes, used to be a punters’ playground.
Langer Dan (right) winning last season’s Imperial Cup. He skips this year’s race and heads straight to the Cheltenham Festival. ©GettyImages
However, there has not been a winning favorite in over a decade. The Imperial Cup is now a graveyard for short-priced runners and the 2022 edition of this two-mile contest looks like a particularly difficult puzzle to solve.
Balco Coastal’s Strong Credentials
Balco Coastal could start as the Imperial Cup favorite, but it will be marginal. Regardless of his position in the betting, he will still be a healthy price.
Trained by Nicky Henderson, this six-year-old has raced just five times. He has scored on three occasions.
Whilst beaten in his latest start – a second-place effort in a Cheltenham Grade 2 Novices’ Hurdle – it was probably Balco Coastal’s best performance to date. A small field resulted in a muddling pace and twice hampered in running, it could be argued he would have won on a different day.
On official figures, Balco Coastal still took a big step forward and there is every chance he can improve again. His trainer has him entered in two races at next week’s Cheltenham Festival indicating he holds him in high regard.
Hacker Can Steal a Place
Paul Nicholls’ horses can never be ignored in a big Saturday handicap. The 12-time Champion trainer won this race in 2019. He has three representatives in 2022.
Nicholls’ Miranda, with 11-stone 12-pounds and Samarrive, carrying 11-stone five-pounds, occupy the top two spots in the weights. They are prominent in the betting, but the statistics are against them. Only one horse has won this race carrying more than 11-stone two-pounds in the last 25 years.
But the trainer is also represented by Hacker Des Places. The five-year-old is a very-interesting candidate. Like Balco Coastal he is lightly-raced and improving. A last-time-out winner, he has been allocated 10-stone 13-pounds.
However, as jockey Angus Cheleda claims five pounds, Hacker Des Places will race off of just 10-stone eight-pounds. A winner in France and proven on both soft and heavy going, this horse has definite each-way claims.
Langer Dan’s Absence Is a Tip
Traditionally there has been a big cash bonus for any horse that wins the Imperial Cup and goes on to score at the Cheltenham Festival a week later. With that incentive removed, Langer Dan – winner of this Paddy Power sponsored race last year – skips the contest and heads directly to the Festival.
The six-year-old will next line-up in next week’s Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham. Runner-up in that contest 12 months ago, this time he will arrive at Prestbury Park as a fresh horse. It is a tip in itself.
Power Will Be Strong in Listed Company
Happy Power failed to win in seven starts last season. But, as all of those races were in Group race company, he should not be condemned.
Last seen in action on the Saudi Cup undercard a fortnight ago, the Andrew Balding-trained horse will make his debut on an artificial surface in Wolverhampton’s 2.40 pm contest. The switch is unlikely to inconvenience Happy Power in any way.
A drop into Listed-race company should be enough to see this gallant campaigner return to the winner’s enclosure. It is somewhere his trainer has visited many times since the start of March.
Recommended Bets
- Balco Coastal 2.25pm Sandown
- Happy Power 2.40pm Wolverhampton
What will a win double pay on these selections? Entering the current prices, you can use our double calculator to check on the possible returns based on your chosen stakes.
