Murphy eyeing Imperial Cup tilt with Go Dante

Adam Morgan
March 6, 2024 11:38 am

‘I think soft ground and a stiff two miles at Sandown should suit him well’.

The Betfair Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle could prove a more than suitable alternative to the Cheltenham Festival for connections of Go Dante, who are weighing up a shot at the valuable Sandown prize.

As well as his ticket to Saturday’s Sandown feature, Olly Murphy’s Betfair Hurdle third holds entries in both the Country Hurdle and Martin Pipe races at Prestbury Park the following week.

However, with the eight-year-old not certain to make the final line-up for those events in the Cotswolds, the Warren Chase handler is seriously considering a trip to Esher for the prestigious GBP 100,000 contest, with Go Dante a 7-1 chance with the sponsors.

Olly Murphy is the trainer of Go Dante (Simon Marper/PA)

Murphy said: “It’s certainly something we are looking at. Ideally, we would have liked to have got into a Cheltenham handicap but that doesn’t look like happening, so the Imperial Cup looks the most likely race we will take our chance in.

“He’s in good form and had a very good run in the Betfair. I think soft ground and a stiff two miles at Sandown should suit him well.

“He’s got two entries at Cheltenham next week and it’s a case of looking at where he’s most likely to get in and making the right decision, but we’re certainly looking at Sandown on Saturday.”

Similar sentiments apply to Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero’s Making Headway, who also has a couple of options at the Cheltenham Festival but has connections leaning towards a crack at the Imperial Cup.

Making Headway winning at Newbury (Adam Davy/PA)

An impressive winner from the front in heavy ground at Newbury last month, it could be ground conditions once again that ultimately decide if the six-year-old’s team roll the dice or hold fire in case they make the cut in either the Coral Cup or Martin Pipe at Prestbury Park.

“I think he will (go to the Imperial Cup), as long as it doesn’t dry out too much,” said Greenall. “He will definitely want it no quicker than good to soft or soft – it looks a nice opportunity for him.

“He’s not guaranteed to get in at Cheltenham and we were going to go for the good novice race at Kelso (Premier Novices’ Hurdle) but that looked quite hot and there was a couple we didn’t want to take on.”

Ben Pauling’s recent Huntingdon scorer Jipcot currently heads the market, with the in-form handler also responsible for narrow Ascot runner-up Bad amongst the 23 in the mix for Saturday’s contest.