Lord to rule in Imperial contest
CALL ME LORD can tee up a potential £100,000 bonus bid by winning the Matchbook Imperial Cup at Sandown.
The huge cash prize traditionally associated with this race will be won if any successful horse can follow up at the Cheltenham Festival next month.
And in Call Me Lord, trainer Nicky Henderson would appear to have a perfect foil with which to go for the double.The five-year-old must carry top weight in the Imperial Cup, but he is a pretty resilient animal with a touch of quality.
Yet perhaps the biggest thing going for him is his love of Sandown, which can be a challenging old place with the wrong horse.
Call Me Lord is unbeaten in two starts at the Esher venue and looked especially full of himself over this twomile trip in January when he won a valuable two-mile handicap hurdle by three and a quarter lengths.
Another important factor from that accomplished victory was the fact it was achieved in very deep ground.
That he has no worries about running through mud cannot be downplayed as things are likely to become pretty demanding at Sandown if the forecast is correct.
Call Me Lord’s recent outing in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton, when a solid third to Champion Hurdle contenders Elgin and Ch’tibello, also tends to suggest he is a shade better than a handicapper as that was only his fourth start for Henderson since his transfer from France. Expect his County Hurdle odds to be significantly shorter if he does what is expected of him.
Second Thought should go well for William Haggas and Ryan Moore in the Lady Wulfruna Stakes at Wolverhampton.
The four-year-old colt, who finished runner-up to Harry Angel last May, had the time of his life over a mile at Kempton last November when he won a Listed race by half a length from Keystroke.
Second Thought has plenty of boot so this return to seven furlongs will be of little consequence.
Big Country gets the vote in the sunbets.co.uk Lincoln Trial, with his chance boosted by the late defection of the Haggas-trained Original Choice.
Mick Appleby’s charge showed smart form during the summer, being narrowly denied in the John Smith’s Cup at York. Crucially, he has also shown a liking for artificial surfaces and this should set him up for the main event at Doncaster later in the month.