Coral Racing Ambassador and reigning Champion Jumps Jockey, Sean Bowen, previews his two rides at Sandown on Saturday and tells us what his hopes are for 2026.

13:15 Sandown – Dominic’s Fault

Dominic’s Fault is running in a seniors’ handicap hurdle here, which should make life a little easier for him. I thought his run at Newbury first time out was good, he travelled nicely and just got tired in the closing stages. He will have come on loads for that and Olly has given him a wind-op since then. I think he should go nicely here and he gives me a good chance of riding a winner.

15:35 Sandown – Imaginarium

Imaginarium hasn’t run for a while, but he finished off last season strongly when winning at Perth over this distance. Unfortunately we're up against horses who have already had a run this season, so they are likely to be much sharper, especially up Sandown’s hill towards the finish line. However, if he can return in the same form as last spring, he should run well.

We also asked Sean what his hopes were for 2026 as we head into the New Year, and this is what he told us:

My goals at the start of the season were to ride 200 winners and a Cheltenham Festival winner, and those remain for the new year. Obviously, I am in great shape for the former, but in jumps racing, you are only one fall away from being out for a while, so I will be doing my best to ride as many winners as I can in the early stages of 2026.

Haiti Couleurs gave me one of the moments of 2025 in the Coral Welsh Grand National. He is on course for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, so that is something to look forward to in the Blue Riband event of the Festival. Rebecca Curtis has spoken about the possibility of him running in the Denman Chase before then for his final prep run.

I am also sure Olly Murphy will have a few runners across the week at Cheltenham and his horses remain in great form. So, let’s hope 2026 can be even better than 2025!

Sean Bowen, Coral Racing Ambassador