Cheltenham Festival winner Faivoir one of 23 in contention for Saturday's £100,000 Imperial Cup at Sandown

Cheltenham Festival winner Faivoir is one of 23 in contention for Saturday’s £100,000 Betfair Imperial Cup at Sandown following Monday's five-day confirmation stage.

The nine-year-old, who caused a 33-1 shock when landing last season’s County Hurdle, is one of four possible runners for Dan Skelton.

Owned by Suzanne Lawrence, Faivoir was last seen finishing fifth in Newbury’s Betfair Hurdle last month. He is also entered in next week’s County Hurdle and could potentially defend the crown he won 12 months ago.

Skelton, who won this race in 2021 with Langer Dan, could also rely on Punta Del Este, Knickerbockerglory and Goonhilly.

Meanwhile, champion trainer Paul Nicholls won this race last year with Iceo and could saddle Sans Bruit, who finished seventh on his British debut at Doncaster in January.

Ben Pauling could be doubly represented in the 2m contest with recent Huntingdon winner Jipcot and Bad.

Pauling said: "Jipcot came out of the race very well and I think he’s almost certain to go. We’ll probably look at running Bad, who would need to go up a few pounds for a few of the races he’s entered in at the festival. We might see if we can get him a 5lb penalty to get in but he’s in very good form and it will be interesting to see how they go."

Betfair's Barry Orr said: "Jipcot was a very impressive winner at Huntington on Sunday, and he heads the market at 7-2. Petit Tonnerre is interesting, reverting to hurdles for the first time since contesting last season’s County Hurdle. We aren’t taking any chances with him at 8-1."

The Harry Fry-trained Metier, who landed the Chester Cup last spring, is in contention to make his first start since October. The eight-year-old was last seen when finishing seventh in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp.

Fry said: "He's not been over hurdles since this race last year but he's won a Chester Cup and been over to France to run in a Group 1. He didn't give his true running that day and it took him a while to get over that trip.

"We're looking forward to him starting back up again with the plan of running over hurdles and on the Flat. Saturday's race, bearing in the mind the current weather, should have ground conditions to suit him."

Go Dante finished third in the Betfair Hurdle on his latest outing for Olly Murphy and could feature in the race, while five-time winner Spirit D'Aunou is in contention to take his chance for Gary Moore alongside stablemate Junkanoo.

'We're glad to see a predominantly dry week' - Sandown expects ground to dry before Saturday

Sandown clerk of the course Andrew Cooper has no concerns regarding the recent wet weather and hopes a mostly dry week will help the track improve before Saturday's Premier raceday.

Following 36mm of rain since Thursday, which included 15mm on Saturday, the going on the chase course is soft, heavy in places and heavy, soft in places on the hurdles track.

Although more rain fell than what was forecast, Cooper is expecting the rain to stay away so the track can dry out before the weekend.

He said: "We've had plenty of rain recently and Saturday was a much wetter day than we thought it would be, we had about 15mm and we were under a line of showery rain. 

"We've been dry since Saturday lunchtime but we're expecting a little bit of rain overnight. From Tuesday until Friday looks dry, and there's a bit of uncertainty regarding Saturday. We may get some rain but nothing dramatic in terms of volume and I think we'll be okay.

"The track will improve this week and dry out if we can get four dry days. We'll have to see what Saturday brings and it's not out the question that it could also be dry. We have no worries at this stage and we're glad to see a predominantly dry week."

Imperial Cup confirmations

Bad Ben Pauling
Bashers Reflection Ben Case
Donnacha Nigel Hawke
Faivoir Dan Skelton
Georgi Girl Philip Hobbs & Johnson White
Go Dante Olly Murphy
Goonhilly Dan Skelton
Jipcot Ben Pauling
Junkanoo Gary Moore
Knickerbockerglory Dan Skelton
Lively Citizen D. J. Jeffreys
Making Headway Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero
Metier Harry Fry
Minx Tiara David O'Brien
Moveit Like Minnie Nigel Twiston-Davies
Norman Fletcher Nigel Twiston-Davies
Parramount Charlie Longsdon
Petit Tonnerre Jonjo O'Neill
Punta Del Este Dan Skelton
Sans Bruit Paul Nicholls
Shared Harry Derham
Spirit D'Aunou Gary Moore
Welsh Charger Alastair Ralph

Betfair Imperial Cup (2.25 Sandown, Saturday)

Betfair: 7-2 Jipcot, 7 Go Dante, 8 Making Headway, Petit Tonnerre, Spirit D'aunou, 9 Georgi Girl, 10 Bad, Faivoir, 12 Knickerbockerglory, Welsh Charger, 14 Junkanoo, Metier, Punta Del Este, 16 Bashers Reflection, Donnacha, Lively Citizen, Moveit Like Minnie, Parramount, Sans Bruit, 20 bar

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