Betfair Imperial Cup: Lump Sum 5/1 with £100K Cheltenham Festival bonus up for grabs

• Lump Sum fav to win Saturday's Betfair Imperial Cup

• Winner will receive further £100K if they add Cheltenham victory

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The Betfair Imperial Cup at Sandown this Saturday is the perfect way to warm-up for next week's Cheltenham Festival (11-14 March).

It should be a cracking contest, thanks in part to a special bonus that the winner will carry forward to the Festival. 

The Jockey Club will give the winner £100,000 if they follow up with another victory at next week's Festival.

That will add further intrigue to an already fascinating race and give Saturday's winner plenty of impetus for Cheltenham.  

Lump Sum fav to win historic Betfair Imperial Cup

The favourite for the race, which starts at 14:25 on Saturday, is Sam Thomas' Lump Sum 5/16.00. Betfair Spokesman Barry Orr thinks that is no surprise and said:

''[It is] a fantastic set of entries for an historic race but you can set your watch by Sam Thomas in big handicaps this season and his Lump Sum is favourite in early skirmishes.'' 

Wreckless Eric is next in the market at 7/18.00 ahead of Betfair ambassador Paul Nicholls' Afadil, Batman Girac and Bo Zenith who are all 8/19.00.

Nicholls will preview all of his weekend runners on Betting.Betfair and he will provide the lowdown on them every day of the Cheltenham Festival. 

Last year's winner was the joint-favourite Go Dante but punters should note that four of the last 10 winners of the two-mile race started at double-figure odds.

Betfair Imperial Cup Odds

5/16.00 - Lump Sum

7/18.00 - Wreckless Eric

8/19.00 Afadil, Batman Girac, Bo Zenith

12/113.00 Ooh Betty, Welsh Charger

14/115.00 Spirits Bay, Tintintin

16/117.00 Imaginarium, Just Ennemi, Knickerbockerglory, Knight Of Allen, To Chase A Dream, Tom Doniphon

20/121.00 Big Ginge, Hardy Du Seuil, We're Red And Blue

25/126.00 All In You, Go Dante, Golden Maverick, King William Rufus, Sorceleur

33/134.00 Norman Fletcher

40/141.00 He's A Latchico, Moon Chime

50/151.00 Tapley

66/167.00 Maasai Mara 

Now read today's racing previews and get our experts' tips