Pipe goes for Imperial quantity
The champion trainer’s 13 possibles are headed by Polar Red, who pipped Impek by a head in the showcase handicap hurdle over an extended two miles last year.
Pipe hopes to clinch the prize as the winner will be eligible for a £60,000 bonus if going on to win any race at next week’s Cheltenham Festival.
He is the only trainer to have collected the bonus, with Olympian in 1993 and Blowing Wind in 1998.
Polar Red, who failed in his bid to scoop the bonus last March when unplaced in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle at the Festival, holds an entry in that race again on Thursday week.
Pipe’s other Imperial Cup entries include Korelo, who is in the Coral Cup Hurdle on Wednesday week.
