Just a single Irish-trained horse has won Sandown’s Betfair Imperial Cup in almost two decades, although Willie Mullins could try to change that statistic with Batman Girac on Saturday.
A faller at the last behind McLaurey at the Dublin Racing Festival, Batman Girac holds a County Hurdle entry at next week’s Cheltenham Festival. However he is also one of eight left in Sandown’s big handicap contest.
A bonus of £100,000 is available for the connections of any horse that wins at Sandown and completes a quick follow-up in any race at Cheltenham.
Batman Girac is an 8-1 shot with some firms for the Imperial Cup, which was won by Peter Fahey’s Surprise Package in 2022.
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It is a decade since Mullins ran his top-class runner Wicklow Brave in the Imperial Cup. He was pulled up that day but less than a week later landed the County at Cheltenham.
The six-figure bonus has been reintroduced this year by the sponsors. In previous guises it was won three times by a trio of horses from the Pipe yard.
Olympian in 1993 went on to land the Coral Cup at Cheltenham, a feat also accomplished by Blowing Wind. David Pipe’s Gaspara doubled up in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle.
More recently, the Dan Skelton-trained Langer Dan went close in 2021, following up his Sandown Park success with a second-place finish at Cheltenham six days later.
In other news, trainer Brian Duffy has been fined €5,000 by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board after admitting to not providing accurate information on his 2024 licence renewal application.
From a handful of horses at his base near Trim, Co Meath, Duffy trained Magic Chegaga to win the 2022 Galway Mile under Colin Keane.
A referrals hearing originally held in January heard how in June 2023, the IHRB’s Licensing Department granted Duffy’s request to continue as a licensed trainer while he pursued a job opportunity in France for a temporary period of eight weeks.
The Licensing Department received no further correspondence from Duffy regarding his residency status until September 2024.
In the intervening period, Duffy renewed his trainer’s licence in January 2024, listing his Trim address, despite continuing to reside in France. During this time, he had one horse in training in Ireland, who had raced during this period.
At the hearing, Duffy accepted he was in breach of Rule 145(i) for failing to provide accurate information on his licence renewal application.
His father, Frank Duffy, was an authorised representative for the stable and said that while he oversaw the horse’s daily welfare, all decisions were made by his son.
Having reserved their decision, the referrals committee decided that the accuracy of personal information given by a licensee to a regulator is fundamental to protecting the integrity of the entire system.
They fined Duffy and said he will have to reapply for a trainers’ licence in Ireland. Until that is approved Duffy undertook to not engage in any training in Ireland.
