Sandown Imperial Cup day tips: Best value bets and preview for Saturday March 9

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Value Bet tips: Saturday, March 9

1pt win Dartmoor Pirate in 1.50 Sandown at 14/1 (General)

1pt win Thank You Ma’am in 1.50 Sandown at 50/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair)

1pt win Georgi Girl in 2.25 Sandown at 14/1 (bet365, William Hill)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Two traditionally attractive opportunities to boost the Festival funds will hopefully live up to their billing at Sandown on Saturday, although the prevailing ground conditions are going to be something of an acquired taste, with ‘heavy’ and ‘good to soft’ both featuring in a rather odd official description of the hurdles track on Friday morning.

Whether more showers arrive or not, the ground is going to be in contrast to that on which EBF Final hope Fire Flyer was successful at Taunton last month and, although he was second to the smart prospect Gidleigh Park on soft at Newbury three starts ago, I’m happy enough to oppose Paul Nicholls’ number one under top weight this weekend.

The champion trainer has a second-string and fits first-time cheekpieces to Emailandy in a bid to get a little more out of Bryony Frost’s mount after he let down odds-on backers at Market Rasen recently, while Ben Pauling’s Awaythelad has definitely improved for the same headgear the last twice and looked to have a bit in hand over the reopposing Roger Pol at Leicester when the pair were last sighted.

Jonjo O’Neill’s Hasthing is feared most on handicap debut, but I’m having two darts against the market leaders here, starting with Anthony Honeyball’s DARTMOOR PIRATE, whose sole hurdles outing on soft so far yielded an 11-length maiden victory at Wincanton in December.

He’s been beaten twice since but bumped into the Sky Bet Supreme hope Tellherthename (the pair of them were penalised) at Huntingdon before running another creditable race in second when trying to concede 6lb (minus Ben Godfrey’s 3lb claim) to the Sam Thomas-trained Steel Ally back at Wincanton last month.

The front two came 23 lengths clear of the third that day and the way in which Dartmoor Pirate stayed on suggests he’s crying out for this more demanding test of stamina.

That inclination is backed up by this horse’s pedigree as he’s a half-brother to seven winners including Barizan and Baradari, the latter of which finished fifth in the 2014 Fred Winter and ended up winning the old ‘Fixed Brush’ Handicap Hurdle over the thick end of three miles at Haydock.

That pair were officially rated in the 140s and while the Honeyball runner still has some way to go, it’s not hard to imagine an opening mark of 121 gives him a fighting chance of climbing the ladder.

The other claiming jockey I’m drawn to here is Olive Nicholls (7lb) who rides THANK YOU MA’AM for her mother Georgina Nicholls (Paul’s ex-wife).

Like Dartmoor Pirate, Thank You Ma’am is also by Black Sam Bellamy who has sired loads of strong stayers over the years including The Giant Bolster, Sam Spinner, Sam’s Adventure, Captain Cattistock and Sam Brown to name but a handful.

Black Sam Bellamy’s progeny also have a tidy record at Sandown, and I realise this has to be taken with a pinch of salt as it’s a little convoluted, but that record currently stands at five winners from just 27 starters on the hurdles track here when the ground is riding soft or heavy.

Thank You Ma’am has gradually improved with each start over obstacles after looking pretty hopeless as an 80/1 shot on debut in a Chepstow maiden back in October.

The step up to an extended two miles and three furlongs triggered a better performance when just denied by Harry Derham’s Fourofakind on handicap debut at Hereford last month, and I think the subsequent 4lb rise is perfectly fair.

He’s another that needs to improve again in this sort of company but his pedigree offers plenty of hope in that regard, and he’s a massive price having crept into the bottom of the weights for this valuable pot.

The Betfair Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle looks a seriously open renewal and you can make some sort of case for 10 or 12 of the field.

Go Dante is the one who appeals most towards the top of the betting as his Betfair Hurdle third looks the strongest piece of recent form on show. He’s also been left on the same mark since Newbury and the winner being supplemented into the Champion Hurdle this week is probably another half-decent pointer to this horse’s credentials.

However, he’s solid enough around the 11/2 mark whereas GEORGI GIRL has drifted to a very backable price, having initially been chalked up at single figures following the final declarations on Thursday.

She hinted at what was to come when pushing Black Hawk Eagle (winner since) close at Wincanton on Boxing Day, before delivering on that effort in no uncertain terms when bolting up by 19 lengths over this course and distance a month later.

Granted, it was a weak enough contest for military amateur riders, but Georgi Girl backed up the visual impression made there by defying a 10lb rise in the ratings at Kempton last time out.

Elizabeth Gale, who keeps the ride on Saturday, probably got away with one on that occasion as the horse appeared to hit the front far sooner than ideal, and she was ultimately good value for the half-length margin, pulling out more close home.

The mare has gone up another 5lb to a new mark of 125 but she’s evidently begun handicap life on a low perch and I think she’s going to absolutely love the strong gallop and big-field make-up of an Imperial Cup.

Published at 1600 GMT on 08/03/24

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