Betfair Imperial Cup Odds: Playful Saint 9/2 favourite having opened at 10/1

• Playful Saint backed into favouritism

• Givega drifts to 15/2

• Monviel may well relish conditions

Skelton's horse all the rage

Dan Skelton's eight-year-old Playful Saint is the current Betfair Imperial Cup favourite at 5.04/1, having opened as big as 11.010/1.

Playful Saint romped home by 12 lengths when last seen at Leicester on 28th December, beating eight rivals when 3.02/1 favourite.

The eight-year-old returned from a mammoth 1099 days off back in March 2022, winning first time out at Wetherby.

A fourth, second and first have followed and Dan Skelton's horse may take all the beating on Saturday at Sandown.

The Contenders

Zoffany Bay 7.06/1 and Monviel 7.513/2 are Playful Saint's main two rivals in the market.

Zoffany Bay raced in England for the first time last month, finishing second at Ascot behind Paul Nicholls' Irish Hill. This was the nine-year-old's first run in 700 days, and many expect him to be much fitter on Saturday.

Monviel previously scored at Sandown back in February 2022 on heavy ground, which is expected on Saturday after a week of rain and snow.

Philip Hobbs' horse returned from a 251 day break to win at Ascot in November last year, before finishing a remote fifth at Newbury last month.

Similar to Zoffany Bay, that run came off a break and more is expected this weekend, especially with conditions set to suit.

Gary Moore's Givega opened up as favourite, but hasn't been supported at all. Having won four out of his five races, including a last time out win at Sandown, it's slightly surprising to see such a big drift.

However, the one race in which he pulled up was when he didn't enjoy heavy ground conditions as favourite at Warwick. With the ground expected to be deep at Sandown, this may not be Givega's race.

Betfair spokesman, Barry Orr, commented today: ''It's been a quiet ante-post market but one horse attracting support is Playful Saint. He's been backed from an opening show of 10/1 to 4/1 fav. The initial favourite, Givega is now freely available to back at 15/2."

The Betfair Imperial Cup Odds, which is offering five places, can be found right here.