Sandown key to £60,000 bonus

Trainer Sue Smith and her husband Harvey, the former champion show jumper, could be looking at a possible £60,000 bonus at Cheltenham next week if Mister McGoldrick wins Saturday’s Sunderlands Imperial Cup at Sandown.

The Smiths’ stable on the edge of the moors near Bingley in West Yorkshire has enjoyed a rich vein of form lately and Mister McGoldrick is just the type to continue the run.

Any horse that wins the Imperial Cup and goes on to further glory at the Festival will collect a £60,000 bonus for connections. Mister McGoldrick is in next Thursday’s Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle.

He may have found the two-and-a-half miles of his last race at Wetherby too far and will appreciate the return to two miles here.

Martin Pipe runs four from an original entry of13. Stable jockey Tony McCoy has plumped for Ascot winner Korelo.

First Love, who became the Queen’s first National Hunt winner for 53 years at Folkestone last month, will be strongly fancied to follow up in the opening novice chase.

TheEmma Lavelle-trained Tana River, winner of his last two at Exeter and Leicester, will be hard to beat in his hat-trick bid in the novice handicap hurdle, despite carrying topweight.

Gola Cher’s dour staying talents will stand the Alan King nine-year-old in good stead in the Price Is Right Handicap Chase. The more rain that falls the better for Gola Cher.