OVER the years, Saturday's Betfair Imperial Cup has been intrinsically linked with the County Hurdle at Cheltenham and, from time to time, a bonus has been offered by sponsors to any horse winning both, or adding any win at the Festival.
Martin Pipe, who never shied away from running a fit horse twice in a few days, seized upon the opportunity with Blowing Wind in 1998, five years after Olympian had completed the Imperial Cup-Coral Cup double.
From the 80's right through to just short of his retirement in 2007, Pipe rattled up astonishing totals of winners each season (invariably well over 200) and, after a somewhat stormy and suspicious period when other professionals couldn't quite understand how his horses were so fit and seldom tied up, it was gradually accepted that he had taken the art of training jumpers to another level.
It didn't help at the time that Martin gave very little away in interviews and his relationship with the press was at its lowest ebb when, one day at Ascot, he ran away from the chasing newshounds in a scene straight out of the Keystone Kops.
In all, he won six Imperial Cups and his son David has added another three which is a remarkable family achievement in a race which has generally been very competitive.
But perhaps the most popular Imperial Cup winner (in my memory) was Floyd who, at Sandown in 1985, reappeared seven days after scoring at Newbury and then, five days later, added the County Hurdle before winning the Queens Prize on the Flat in early April.
It was a testament to the chestnut's trainer David Elsworth that he was able to run back so quickly as he was not the soundest horse and usually wore bandages.
But Floyd loved to run and would later win the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Kingwell Hurdle (twice each) as well as the Rendlesham and Long Walk when upped in trip.
His regular rider Colin Brown confirms what a grand horse he was.
"Floyd was a delight to sit on, had a lovely head carriage and was a very accurate jumper," he said. 'Elsie' never did too much with him at home between races and just sent him racing instead."
Nowadays, with so many useful middle-distance Flat stayers bought to race overseas and so few sent hurdling compared to the past, the Imperial Cup struggles to attract horses as good as Floyd, and no horse entered earlier this week for Saturday’s race was rated over 139.
One also suspects that, without the attraction of a bonus, a hard race before a possible reappearance at Cheltenham is undesirable especially as Sandown's hurdles course can be very testing.
In contrast, the less-used steeplechase course always seems to produce better ground and is, of course, a big favourite with many racegoers and television viewers.
Seven fences in the back straight, including the three railway fences, makes for a fine spectacle and the run home from the Pond Fence (three out) invariably produces some drama, not least when the Queen Mother's Special Cargo famously swooped past Lettoch and the dual winner Diamond Edge in the 1984 Whitbread Gold Cup (now sponsored by bet365).
Her Maj was a regular visitor to Sandown, particularly mid week when she would wander around with seemingly little security until, one day, your correspondent took a step back just outside the winner's enclosure and felt a firm hand at the base of the spine.
Turning round, there she was wearing that serene smile seemingly oblivious to the fact she could have been knocked for six.
Back at the palace or the castle where most of her long-standing servants were homosexual, an early-evening request that "some old queen get another old Queen a gin and tonic" was apparently all part of the daily routine.
One of Sandown's greatest moments must be Moscow Flyer's 2004 defeat of Azertyuiop and Well Chief in a top class Tingle Creek Chase which Andrew Cooper, the long standing clerk of the course, considers the best race in his time.
But the course also played host to the greatest chaser of all as Arkle won both the Whitbread Gold Cup and Gallaher Gold Cup in 1965 when racegoers lined the landing side of the final fence.
In those days, the notion of health and safety had not been invented, and people would sit close to fences and maybe enjoy a warming cup of soup and a sandwich with little realisation that they might be mowed down should a horse run out through the wing or hang off line.
Such pitch invasions (perhaps they thought it was all over and it could well have been) were commonplace, particularly throughout Arkle's glorious career.
There was a similarly relaxed attitude at Fontwell where it was possible to stand very close to the fences near the figure eight chase course intersection or occupy the starter's rostrum once the race had begun.
The area is inaccessible now to the public (health and safety) but it is still worth going close to the fence at the top of the back straight to experience how fast these horses are travelling and the extent to which jockeys, every day, risk their necks.
A viewing platform at the last of the three railway fences at Sandown would be a great place to watch too.
Close-up, the danger is obvious though it's not quite so exciting at Ffos Las and Chepstow since the Welsh government introduced a 20mph speed limit.
The costs to a jockey of getting injured becomes more acute on the eve of big meetings and, should the likes of Harry Cobden and Nico de Boinville be considering taking rides on Monday, they might bear in mind Frankie Dettori's freak fall at Nottingham in early October, 2013 when his mount Eland Ally unseated him leaving the paddock.
Frankie was stretchered back to the weighing room with an injured ankle, but the course doctor was surprisingly sanguine about the injury and considered it merely a sprain.
Unfortunately, he was wrong and, back at Newmarket, the Dettori ankle was diagnosed as broken.
Four days later, he was due to ride Treve in the Arc and had to watch from home as Criquette Head-Maarek's brilliant filly bolted up under Thierry Jarnet.
Jarnet was on board again when she won for a second time so Frankie paid a very high price for an unwise decision to ride a moderate horse when it would have been much more sensible to have a day off.
Jockeys with some important rides next week might well have obligations to turn up on Monday, but it would be wiser if they chilled out for a day and put their feet up.
Maybe with a nice gin and tonic.
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