Imperial Saint

Imperial Saint lands gamble in Sky Bet Peter Marsh Chase

By David Ord

Horse Racing

Sat January 17, 2026 · 11h ago

The well-backed Imperial Saint fought off his rivals to win the Sky Bet Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock,

Myretown set out to make all and was still in front when diving at the third last, making a shuddering mistake and dropping back into fourth.

He was to stay there with the winner, under a strong Callum Pritchard drive, and Konfusion locking horns over the next two fences.

Having finally got the better of that rival, the 7/2 winner, a 16/1 selection for Matt Brocklebank in his Value Bet column, had one final battle to fight as Richmond Lake (11/2) threw down a late challenge.

But he too came up short, the winner staying on dourly to score by a neck.

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Joint-winning trainer Johnson White said: “We’ve just won a Peter Marsh so I’m not saying we haven’t reached our pinnacle but I think there’s still improvement to come.

“It was fantastic. I wouldn’t say Aintree is more on the radar than Cheltenham but we’ve been to Aintree four times and run four fantastic races. I certainly would be heading that way but we’ll see how he comes out of this and make plans. I think he’s definitely worth an entry in the National, Philip and I do, but whether this lot (the owners) can be persuaded we’ll see.”

Konfusion's winning run came to an end in third, co-trainer Joel Parkinson said: “We were very pleased. It was a good run and I think the ground has just done us in the end. Saying that I think everything else in the race would want softer ground so we can’t complain. It was a solid run. We’ll check he’s alright in the morning then have a sit down and talk about future plans.”

Peter Scudamore said of Myretown: “Your worry at Cheltenham was – was it a fluke? Then he fell at Newbury, but he’s shown he’s a good horse again. The mistake must have cost him a length and I just wish I could find a horse that doesn’t have any faults!

“He lives on the edge and made that mistake. That’s life. We entered him in the Gold Cup and boosted him up a bit but had he won today I’d probably have gone for the Gold Cup but I probably think the Ultima now.

“Whether we run before then or not I don’t know. Derek (Fox) said Aintree afterwards, he said he could have gone around again. He’ll have an entry in the National.”

Imperial Saint lands gamble in Sky Bet Peter Marsh Chase

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