Strong hand has Moore eyeing Cheltenham bonus

Sussex trainer Gary Moore has insisted that if any of his four entries are successful in Saturday's Paddy Power Imperial Cup at Sandown they will definitely go for a £75,000 bonus at next week's Cheltenham Festival.

Numide is 6-1 joint second favourite with the sponsors behind David Pipe's 9-2 market leader Mr Thriller and Moore also has Psi, I Have Dreamed and Harry Tricker entered in the £70,000 two-mile handicap hurdle.

All four of Moore's possible runners also hold engagements in the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle on Friday week and would qualify to win the bonus from bookmaker Paddy Power if they were successful in both races.

Moore said: "They all worked this morning and they all worked very well. Whether all four will run in the Imperial Cup I don't know, a lot will depend on the ground.

"Also I don't know if Psi will get in with his weight-for-age allowance and he is probably too low in the handicap. All the rest are in good order and I couldn't be more pleased."

Sandown is currently good, good to firm in places, but clerk of the course Andrew Cooper is expecting up to 12mm of rain tonight with unsettled weather for the rest of the week.

Moore added: "Soft ground would be great for Numide, who would have run in the Totesport Trophy if it hadn't been called off and there has been no obvious race for him until this one.

"Ground on the fast side would be good for I Have Dreamed and Harry Tricker goes on anything but not too soft."

"If one of them wins, it will definitely go for the bonus at Cheltenham."