Go Dante Aiming For Record Third Imperial Cup Success

Go Dante will bid for a slice of history at Sandown on Saturday by ending up being the first three-time winner of the Betfair Imperial Cup.


Olly Murphy's veteran has declared narrow success in the last 2 editions of the prominent handicap, which is the standard emphasize the Saturday before the Cheltenham Festival gets under way.


Betfair are using a ₤ 100,000 bonus offer to the connections of the winner need to the same horse go on to win any race at Cheltenham next week, but Go Dante does not hold any Festival engagements, with Murphy focusing on Saturday's reward for a horse who is three from 3 at Sandown but has dissatisfied on his last number of outings at Windsor and Newbury.


"He's a couple of pounds greater than in 2015, however he enjoys the track and hopefully with a bit of luck in running he'll run well again," said the Warren Chase handler.


"In his last couple of runs they have actually gone extremely, extremely fast early on flat tracks and it hasn't suited him, so ideally returning to a stiffer track will suit.


"It would be great to win for a 3rd time. We understand he likes the place and we're looking forward to running him."


Go Dante in winning action at Sandown (John Walton/PA)


Murphy will have a second string to his bow in the form of Fingle Bridge, who reverted to the smaller sized challenges to end up 2nd at Warwick last month following 3 runs over fences.


Murphy added: "He's going to run also. He did too much at Warwick the last day, so we're hanging back in journey on a stiff track.


"He's certainly good horse with a huge engine and hopefully a run in a handicap the last day will have honed him up again. He must go there with a chance."


Fingle Bridge is the horse together with the Dan Skelton-trained Knickerbockerglory in a 30-strong list of entries.


Other competitors include Ben Clarke's classy mare Ooh Betty, the JP McManus-owned Khrisma from Nicky Henderson's backyard, Chris Gordon's General Briar and Mondo Man, trained by the father-and-son partnership of Gary and Josh Moore.


Olly Murphy could also run 2 in the ₤ 80,000 European Breeders' Fund Betfair "National Hunt" Novices' Handicap Hurdle Final, with the respected Scorpio Rising set to be signed up with by stablemate Gee Force Flyer.


Scorpio Rising appears his most significant hope having won his last 3 races, with Masked Man (Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies), Gentleman Toboot (David Pipe) and Kaka's Cousin (Jonjo and AJ O'Neill) others in the mix for a fiercely-competitive heat.


Murphy stated: "Scorpio Rising looks progressive and I believe the track and journey and everything will suit him well.


"He's in really good form, came out of Windsor well and ideally he's improving.


"We 'd invite a bit more rain for Gee Force Flyer but the stiff track will match him well, he's feasibly disabled and this race has actually been the prepare for a long period of time with him."