DOUBLE HANDFUL

John Shaw’s racing betting column in association with

TODAY’S feature race at Sandown is the Grade 3 Imperial Cup — very much the hors d’oeuvre to the feast of racing coming from Cheltenham next week.

But a win is a win is a win, as I often say to people, particularly those hard of hearing.

Hopefully we can swell our war chests to take to the Festival this week by picking out the winner.

I’m not saying I’ve been experiencing bad luck recently but when I logged on to the internet yesterday I got a message saying: “There are no local women in your area willing to date you”.

The sponsors for this race usually stick up a bonus for any horse to win here and go on to win at the Festival.

That’s one tough ask.

To the best of my knowledge (thanks Wikipedia) only three horses — Olympian (1993), Blowing Wind (1998) and Gaspara (2007) have collected on the bonus. The last two winners of this contest didn’t even go to the Festival. Nicky Henderson’s Call Me Lord has the best form in the race as a courseand-distance winner, but that comes at a cost.

He has to lug round 11st 12lb and no horse has shouldered that sort of burden and won since Blowing Wind — and he carried 2lb less. Surprisingly, Paul Nicholls has never won the Imperial Cup but his stable could hardly head here in better from.

He has a great each-way chance here with the consistent MALAYA, who seems to tick a lot of the boxes when it comes to previous winners.

The mare has finished in the first two in eight of her 12 hurdle starts, she has a low weight of just 10st 2lb and it’s worth noting that 14 of the last 16 winners have carried under 10st 13lb. Interestingly she also has an entry in the County Hurdle next week, making her well-placed to have a tilt at that £50,000 sponsor’s bonus.