Kim Bailey’s Imperial Aura could land him his first winner since 2015.
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Based in the Cotswolds, Kim Bailey trains his horses at Thorndale Farm, just around the corner from Cheltenham and he has one horse in particular who is striving for Cheltenham glory next month.
Kim Bailey has not had the best time of it at the Cheltenham Festival in recent times but Imperial Aura may give him his first Cheltenham Festival winner in five years in this year’s renewal.
Indeed, in the last few days, Imperial Aura has been slashed by bookmakers into the 8/1 favourite for the Northern Trust Company Novices Handicap Chase on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Last month, the seven-year-old was as big as 33/1 for the race but after a very good second at Cheltenham in January, he saw his odds cut across the board.
He is as short as 6/1 with some firms now and may only get shorter as we get closer to Cheltenham. Punters have been getting their money down on Kim Bailey’s star in the last few weeks and are still going.
He has taken a massive 33% of all bets for the race through Oddschecker in the last seven days. In turn, any double figure prices about have vanished and he is now looking a strong favourite for the penultimate race on the Tuesday.
Kim Bailey has only had one winner at the Festival in his last 29 attempts, with his last winner coming in 2015. However, punters think the local trainer is onto a winner in the form of Imperial Aura.
He has been on a luckless run and it would be a great story for the man who trains his horses a stone’s throw from Prestbury Park.
There was concern for punters that he may be raised in the weights again after the third placed horse in his race last month, On the Slopes, proceeded to win cosily at Kempton, having finished 11 lengths of Imperial Aura beforehand.
However, after the news broke that he remains off the same mark of 143, punters were very quick to pile into Imperial Aura now that it looks certain he will not be handicapped out of the Handicap Chase.
Given the level he has run to so far this season, this mark looks very workable and punters think they have found a nice priced winner on the opening day of Cheltenham.
He will have to overcome Kim Bailey’s disappointing record in recent years but judging by the betting, punters believe Imperial Aura can get the Thorndale Farm trainer back in the winner’s enclosure on the biggest stage of them all.
