Tony McCoy aims at winning the Paddy Power Imperial Cup for a fifth time on Saturday at Sandown, while riding Stradbrook. McCoy was successful for Martin Pipe thrice, and the fourth win was on Gaspara for Pipe’s son, two years ago.

In his fifth attempt, McCoy will be riding the Jonjo O’Neill trained Stadbrook for his owner, JP McManus. McManus’s racing manager Frank Berry states that Stradbrook had stuck his head well at Wincanton to go on fighting well to a great win.

He also mentioned that the ground would not inconvenience him too much as Tony will ride once there is a cut in it. McManus’s second horse, Sunnyhillboy will be running in two or three races at Cheltenham, depending on the weather then.

I heard that Gary Moore will be deciding later in the week about the plans for his entries, Harry Ticker, Numide, I Have Dreamed and Psi. According to their Brighton trainer, it is not known if all four will run at the Paddy Power Imperial Cup as the decision lies mainly on the ground.

However he does doubt about Psi getting in because of his low weigh-for-age allowance handicap; otherwise the other horses are in good order for the race. He states that Numide will fare better on soft ground, who had no racing opportunity since this race. He was expected to run in the tote sport Trophy, which was called off.

I Have Dreamed and Harry Tricker would do better on anything that is not too soft. If any of these horses win on Saturday, they automatically qualify for the Paddy Power’s 75,000 pound bonus for the Cheltenham Festival.