• Champion Chase fancy lines up in Tied Cottage
• Big Zeb will be main rival at the weekend

There are many Cheltenham Festival trials in the first half of February each year but few to match the Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown this Sunday, which will bring together Big Zeb and Sizing Europe, the last two winners of the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the first and second favourites for this year's renewal too. It is not so much a trial as a full dress rehearsal.

Irish-trained horses have won five of the last nine runnings of the two-mile chasing championship at the Festival and all but one had their last start before Cheltenham in the Tied Cottage. It will be the key piece of form once again this season and will set the stage for the major Festivals both in England and at Punchestown in April, where Sizing Europe and Big Zeb recorded a win apiece in their personal head-to-head last year.

The major Irish trials for the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup are both Grade One events in their own right and, while Sunday's race is a Grade Two, the main protagonists have nine wins at the highest level between them already and it will take a Grade One performance to win it.

"It deserves to be a Grade One but that's how it is," Henry de Bromhead, the trainer of Sizing Europe, said on Thursday. "Some really good horses have won it over the last 10 or 15 years.

"You'd love to swank around somewhere [against lesser opposition] but it's just so competitive over here and there's not as much racing, so we're taking each other on. It's great for racing that two of the best two-milers anywhere are in the race and hopefully we will both get to Cheltenham as well."

Sizing Europe is unraced since his win in the Tingle Creek Chase in early December, a success that secured his place at the top of the betting for the Champion Chase, while Big Zeb is also lightly raced this season, with two wins from two runs, in November and December.

"We started early, on 1 October, so he had a nice first half to his season," De Bromhead said. "We were lucky enough to win one Grade One, and got chinned in another, and we'd already decided the Tingle Creek would be his Christmas run.

"If we got beaten on Sunday [the betting] could all be very different. Big Zeb looks better than ever this year, so we'll be up against it. But we just want to try to get our fellow right and bang on for 14 March. He loves Cheltenham and he's got a great record around there."

Big Zeb is now 11 years old while Sizing Europe, who was the beaten favourite in the Champion Hurdle in 2008, is 10. Only one horse older than 10 – the magnificent Moscow Flyer – has won the Champion Chase in the last 35 years, so next month's race could be their final head-to-head at the Festival.

"You'd imagine that they are both in their prime now," De Bromhead said, "though having said that, Kauto Star is making it look like they can go on forever, so maybe we can take a leaf out of his book."

Clonmel staged the only National Hunt racing in either Britain or Ireland on Thursday, with Leanne winning the feature chase, the Clonmel Festival Week Chase, over 2½ miles. The Midnight Club, sixth home in the Grand National last April, started favourite at 4-5 but could finish only third under Ruby Walsh and is out to 33-1 for this year's National.

Walsh's day started in London, where he failed in his appeal against a three-day suspension for careless riding, imposed by the stewards at Cheltenham last Saturday. He will miss Betfair day at Newbury on Saturday week as a result.

Friday's scheduled meeting at Chepstow was abandoned on Thursday while Catterick will inspect at 8am. Sandown also inspect tomorrow morning for their card on Saturday after an inspection on Thursday revealed the course was frozen in places under covers put down on the track.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

• Nicky Henderson gelding bids to win for third year in a row
• Frost covers placed down at track on Tuesday

Binocular, who has won the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown at odds of 1-7 and 1-10 over the past two seasons, is likely to be a short price once again for the latest renewal on Saturday after just eight possible runners were entered for the race on Tuesday. However, the odds of the event taking place at all remain in the balance, as racing prepares for several days of freezing overnight temperatures and the likelihood of frostbound tracks.

Despite his starting price, Binocular has not been impressive in either of his previous victories, though he followed up his win in 2010 by taking the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival a few weeks later. His principal rival this weekend could be Starluck, who was the fifth home in Binocular's Champion Hurdle, though the seven-year-old has an alternative engagement in the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las the same afternoon.

Whether the field will get as far as the starting line remains uncertain, as temperatures continue to drop and could yet reach a point where even frost covers fail to operate.

"The track is perfectly raceable under the covers at the moment," Andrew Cooper, Sandown's clerk of the course, said on Tuesday. "The week is going to be challenging for sure, as we are in for several nights of frost, which can have a compounding effect, rather than just covering up for one night.

"I don't think we will have any meaningful idea of how things are likely to pan out until Thursday at the earliest. It depends on exactly how cold the nights are and, just as importantly, how cold the daytime is too.

"We lost a meeting a couple of years ago with everything covered up after the temperature dipped to minus six overnight, and though it rose quickly the next morning, it had dipped far enough to get into the ground. No two situations are identical and every time I look at the forecast it seems to be different."

Wednesday's three National Hunt meetings at Newcastle, Ludlow and Leicester are subject to precautionary inspections with frost forecast overnight, and Wincanton will inspect at 1pm on Wednesday for their meeting the following afternoon. Officials at Ffos Las are doing all they can to ensure that Saturday's valuable card, the showpiece event of the season at the south Wales track, survives the expected freeze.

"We are protecting the whole track with a heavy-duty fleece and that is going down on Wednesday," Tim Long, the clerk of the course, said on Tuesday, "although certain parts are already down.

"We've got three nights of frost ahead of us but they are not forecast to be drastic ones. My forecaster says there is a weather front moving in on Friday which, at the moment, is quite good news because that means the temperature probably won't get below freezing on Friday night."

Oscar Whisky, last year's winner, who runs in the colours of Dai Walters, the owner of Ffos Las, is expected to start favourite for Saturday's feature event.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

• Bookmakers leave winner at 12-1 for March target
• Adonis Hurdle the next stop for Paul Nicholls runner

Dildar, who finished fourth to the subsequent Derby winner Pour Moi in a Group Two on the Flat last year, made a successful transition to hurdling at Taunton on Tuesday when he finished a length and a quarter ahead of Sew On Target in a novice event over 17 furlongs. Several of his jumps were less than fluent, however, and Dildar is likely to need further racing experience if he is to line up in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Dildar's smart form on the Flat, and his subsequent purchase to race for the Paul Nicholls yard, had seen him advance towards the head of the ante-post market for the Triumph without jumping a hurdle in public. His momentum in the betting slowed after Tuesday's race, however, with most bookmakers leaving him unchanged at around 12-1, and 14-1 (from 11-1) on offer with Paddy Power.

The field at Taunton also included another interesting new recruit from the Flat in Alwaary, fourth home in the King George at Ascot in July 2009, but he faded quickly in the straight as Ruby Walsh sent Dildar in pursuit of the leader Sew On Target. The last of several deliberate jumps, at the second-last, stalled his challenge briefly, but he drew alongside at the last and his superior Flat speed made the difference on the run-in.

"It's tacky ground out there and we can get all of his jumping right at home," Nicholls, who saddled Zarkandar to win last year's Triumph Hurdle, said afterwards. "He'll need another run so will go straight to the Adonis at Kempton now."

Nicholls and Walsh completed a double half an hour later when Sanctuaire, the winner of the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle at the Festival in 2010, made all the running to record a comprehensive victory in his first outing over fences.

Sanctuaire has often shown signs of temperament since his easy win at Cheltenham nearly two years ago, and was reluctant to race in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton last time out. Those doubts filtered into the market, and he drifted in the betting for Tuesday's race throughout the day before starting favourite at 13-8, having been an odds-on chance in place a few hours beforehand.

There was no uncertainty about his performance in the race, though, as Sanctuaire took a strong pull from the start and quickly charged into a long lead which he never seemed likely to surrender. He is now top-priced at 25-1 for the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham in March, and as short as 16-1 in places.

"I think that will have done him the world of good, both mentally and physically," Nicholls said. "Once he jumps off, he's very obviously a tool. He was a bit guessy at jumping, but that can improve.

"I did put him in the Arkle and he'd be something to follow round Aintree, but we'll see. I could run him in the Kingmaker at Warwick [later in February] now, or find him another small race."

Trainer and jockey took their winning run on the card to three when another former Group-class performer on the Flat was successful in the card's handicap hurdle. Ted Spread, who took the Chester Vase in 2010, started favourite at 5-4 and quickened seven lengths clear of Pascha Bere. He could now run in either the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle or the County Hurdle at the Festival.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

• Willie Mullins's hurdler now odds on for Cheltenham
• Wins on heavy ground after eight-month absence

When Christmas came and went without a sighting of Hurricane Fly, last year's Champion Hurdle winner, some backers began to suspect he might not appear at all this season. Ruby Walsh, though, never lost faith. "He's just a great horse," Walsh said on Sunday as he returned to the weighing room after the Irish Champion Hurdle. "I told everyone six weeks ago to take the price [for Cheltenham]."

Hurricane Fly's first run since a win at the Punchestown Festival in May was in some ways the most impressive of his outstanding career. It was not so much the winning margin of six and a half lengthsas the manner of it that left a lasting impression, as Walsh's mount "came alive", according to the jockey, as soon as he gave him a squeeze three flights from home.

Thousand Stars, a Grade One winner at three miles in the summer, had set a decent pace on heavy ground on a filthy afternoon in Dublin. After an eight-month absence Hurricane Fly might have needed some encouragement to close him down but he caught Thousand Stars in a matter of strides with Walsh still motionless in the saddle. In such conditions his class was overwhelming.

"I was nervous before the race with him having been off so long and then there was all the rain," Willie Mullins, Hurricane Fly's trainer, said. "My other runners today had been disappointing so I was just worried. Sometimes we go through a day when they all run bad for no reason.

"In the parade ring before the race he was walking around like an old handicapper, when normally there would be two people to steady him, and I was very apprehensive before the race. As it progressed, it didn't help much either, as we set a good pace with Thousand Stars and he just slotted in.

"Ruby said he wondered if anything was going to come when he gave him a squeeze but, when he did, he said he just came alive and he put in as good a performance as I've ever seen from him."

When Walsh was telling people to get on for Cheltenham, Hurricane Fly could be backed at 2-1, but only one bookie was offering even money after Sunday's race and another was as short as 4-6. Even that price is likely to come under pressure over the next six weeks, as Hurricane Fly has twice been forced to miss the Festival in the past, but as the meeting approaches, the money will surely arrive. "Maybe he's just learned to take racing in his stride now and therefore he's able to contain all his speed, because he certainly has plenty of that," Mullins said. "The whole thing with this guy is that we know he's got the engine, we just have to keep him sound and mind him all the time. The last seasons have been good in that way, so we just have to keep him going for another six weeks."

Mullins and Walsh completed a quick double when Boston Bob took the following race, a Grade Two novice hurdle over two-and-a-half miles, and the winner is now quoted at single-figure odds for both the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle, over three miles, and the Neptune Novice Hurdle, over two miles and five furlongs, at Cheltenham

However, Flemenstar, the impressive winner of the Grade One Arkle Novice Chase, will not be going to the Festival as Peter Casey, his trainer, does not expect faster ground to suit him. He will be prepared instead for the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse later in the year.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

• Gelding wins 15th race in a row in Cleeve Hurdle
• Ruby Walsh to appeal against careless riding ban

Big Buck's once more toyed with the faith of his supporters here on Saturday, hitting his notorious flat spot and seeming to be in trouble as those in front made a dash for home, but the Cleeve Hurdle ended with him in front, just like every other race in which he has taken part for the past three years. His winning run now extends to 15 and he is long odds-on to make it 16 in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for the nine-year-old, who seemed no more than a failed chaser at the end of 2008. Since then, he has become one of those handful of horses who can make people cheer just by entering or leaving a paddock.

"You see the crowd and this is what's so great about jump racing sometimes, when you get these horses that keep coming back," said his trainer, Paul Nicholls. "It makes me nervous, because it is a lot of pressure with him. He's just a brilliant horse."

Nicholls would not admit any additional anxiety during the race, even when Dynaste had poached a clear lead by the home turn and Ruby Walsh had begun to make visible efforts on Big Buck's, pushing at his neck and shaking the reins.

"We could have ridden him a lot handier on the pace if we'd wanted," Nicholls said. "We were mindful that we wanted to save some petrol for [the Festival], we didn't want to be too hard on him." He had asked Walsh to hold the horse up for longer than when the pair won at Ascot last month, when they hit the front too soon in the trainer's view.

Nor were there serious nerves on Betfair, where those plucky souls who trade bets in mid-race never offered Big Buck's at bigger than 4-6. They are, by now, well aware that his powers of acceleration are somewhat less than electric. There may come a day when he lets his backers down but it seems no nearer now than it has been for years.

William Hill claimed to have been clobbered by a bet of £230,000 and no firm will offer more than 8-13 for the World Hurdle about Big Buck's, who would set a record for the Festival race if he can land it for the fourth time. Sixteen consecutive hurdles wins would also match the mark set by Champion Hurdle winner Sir Ken in the 1950s.

Asked how long Big Buck's could keep on winning, Nicholls said: "As long as I can keep him in one piece. We're lucky with Kauto Star and him that they stay sound. We've just got to look after them at home, work out their right training regime and run them in the right races."

"He's incredible," Walsh said. "Never looks flashy but keeps running for you. You like grafters. The flashy ones never last."

Asked how close he had come to the almost unthinkable act of using his whip on the horse, Walsh replied that it had never seemed necessary. "You only use your whip when you have to. That's the killing part of those stupid rules," he said, an allusion to the strict new whip rules, which he has always opposed.

This victory meant Walsh could leave the track with his smile in place, having been demoted after winning the opening juvenile hurdle on Pearl Swan, a ride that earned him a three-day ban for careless riding. The stewards took the view that his horse had interfered with Grumeti and, as the winning margin was a short-head, the result had been affected.

Walsh does not dispute the decision to reverse the placings but was put out by the ban and will consider an appeal. "I haven't been suspended for careless riding since I don't know when. You ride for so long without getting suspended and then your first offence is three days.

"I'll have to go home and have a look. My instinct is I'll have to appeal it." If the ban remains, he will miss Betfair day at Newbury in a fortnight's time, when he would probably have ridden What A Friend in the Denman Chase among other rides. Walsh should still be able to ride in the Irish Hennessy the next day, as jockeys can apply to defer short bans on days when there is top-class racing.

Kauto Star and Long Run appear to have the Gold Cup to themselves after several of their most likely challengers managed a collective belly flop in the Argento Chase. The race was won by Midnight Chase, a distant fifth in the last Gold Cup, while Time For Rupert and Diamond Harry faded tamely to be beaten a dozen lengths and more. Captain Chris baffled his connections by jumping wildly out to the right and was pulled up before halfway.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

• Grumeti gets race in stewards room after Pearl Swan demoted
• Bless The Wings on course for novice chase at March meeting

Alan King marked the latest stage in the revival of his fortunes with a hat-trick of winners on Festival Trials Day here. The trainer, a stranger to big-race success for most of the past two years, pointed out that his last victory at the home of jump racing had been 10 months ago.

He had the stewards to thank for the first of his three, as Grumeti finished a short-head behind Pearl Swan in the opening novice hurdle. The stewards demoted the winner after finding he had caused interference on the run-in.

"There was one bump and from there I've got carried to the rails," said Grumeti's jockey, Wayne Hutchinson. "He was intimidated out of it, if you like. It was only a short-head and up to that point, I thought I was the winner."

Grumeti will now be prepared for the Triumph Hurdle and, although Ladbrokes lengthened him to 12-1, Hutchinson feels he will be a better horse on a sounder surface. "It's just blunted a gear that he's got, it's very dead out there," said the jockey, who rode all three of King's winners.

King plans to give Grumeti a final prep run in the Adonis Hurdle at Kempton on 25 February. "He was a bit guessy at one or two early on and I think another run might just help him."

The stable is well off for novice hurdlers, it seems, as Batonnier won another such race later on the card and is now 20-1 for the Neptune Novice Hurdle at the Festival. "We always said he was a machine," King recalled, but the horse had disappointed him by failing to win again after a debut success almost two years ago.

Hopes were raised on Tuesday, when Batonnier worked at King's Wiltshire yard and "murdered" his stablemate Hold On Julio. Then Hold On Julio was found to have a cough, which prevented him from running at Doncaster on Saturday, and King was left wondering whether Batonnier had been flattered. Those doubts were dispelled as the six-year-old came three lengths clear of the favourite, Broadbackbob.

Bless The Wings, a novice chaser, provided the middle leg of King's hat-trick. "I don't think you'll see a novice jump better round here," the trainer said, adding that Bless The Wings would go straight to the Festival's Centenary Novice Handicap Chase, for which he is 12-1 joint-favourite.

King revealed that he is considering the Denman Chase at Newbury in a fortnight's time for one of his stable stars, Medermit, despite the likelihood of having to take on Long Run. He believes three miles should suit the grey, though the shorter Ryanair remains a more likely Festival target than the Gold Cup. "He's been a grand horse and he's probably one of those we've got to duck and dive with a wee bit now," the trainer said.

In the meantime, King must hope for an improvement in the general health of his charges. "We've got a lot coughing. It is going round. The youngsters had it a while back, now the older horses have got it, so we've just got to take it day by day. Luckily I've got a very quiet week next week, I haven't got many to run."

Henrietta Knight is also enjoying a revival of sorts, Calgary Bay winning the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster for her to follow up Somersby's victory in the Victor Chandler last Saturday. Knight said Calgary Bay would go straight to the Grand National, though he could be high in the weights, having defied a burden of 11st 11lb this time.

The runner-up, Shakalakaboomboom, is also National-bound, though his trainer, Nicky Henderson, believes he may need to be raised a couple of pounds in order to sneak in at the bottom of the handicap.

The third-placed Fruity O'Rooney appeared unlucky, as he had been in front until his saddle began to slip four fences from home, Jamie Moore doing well to stay aboard.

Henderson had been in the winner's enclosure earlier with Kid Cassidy, who made hard work of beating Kumbeshwar after the only other runner, Menorah, fell at the third. It was a performance that may yet dissuade connections from tackling the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival, for which Kid Cassidy remains a 20-1 shot.

"It didn't look like he needs to go round Cheltenham," Henderson said, "but if we dropped him in and hunted round you never know. He has got the ability."

Kid Cassidy gave Tony McCoy his first success since he suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung in a fall on 30 December.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

Jockey rides favourite for Saturday's Festival Trials day feature

Richard Johnson's professional life became just a little more difficult at Warwick on Thursday, when Tony McCoy returned to race-riding after nearly a month on the sidelines, but the second-most successful jockey in National Hunt history is not one to complain.

"I'm sure some people think that I think it's good when he's not around," Johnson said, "but you never want to see people have to be off through injury and it's great to have him back. He's fantastic for racing, and for me it's a pleasure to ride with him. He's a good friend, and I sit next to him in the weighing room almost every day."

Johnson was not only pleased to have McCoy back in opposition, but seemed galvanised too. He recorded a front-running double on the day, and his performance on Inga Bird in the second race of the afternoon was an outstanding example of judgment and race-riding, as he kept just enough in reserve and then held his mount together in the straight to get home by a short-head.

McCoy failed to return with a winner at Warwick, but as so often over the last decade and a half, the title race is over already. Johnson has 115 winners this season, 20 more than Jason Maguire, the next rider on the list, but he was still 59 adrift of McCoy morning. Johnson seems booked for second place in the championship for the seventh season running, and the 14th time in 15 years.

Johnson was the leading conditional rider in 1995-96, when McCoy was winning the first of his 16 senior titles, and despite a career total of winners that puts him well head of riders like Peter Scudamore, who won eight championships, and John Francome (six), it remains the only title on his record.

But Johnson has won all four of the Cheltenham Festival's feature races – the World Hurdle still eludes McCoy – and hopes to emerge from Saturday's Argento Chase at Cheltenham with a serious contender for the Gold Cup in March.

Johnson will ride Captain Chris, last year's Arkle Trophy winner, who is likely to start favourite having finished third behind Kauto Star and Long Run in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. That run seems to give him something to find to be a plausible Gold Cup winner, but Johnson is confident that Captain Chris was not at his best at Kempton.

"I think it's the ideal race for him on Saturday," Johnson said between winners at Warwick. "We need to find out whether three miles around Cheltenham is his trip, and he needs to put up a good performance or realistically, he's not a Gold Cup horse. He's got two options at Cheltenham, the Ryanair Chase and the Gold Cup, so we'll be a lot wiser after the event.

"He just didn't travel and jump at Kempton as nicely as he can do. He didn't struggle, but he didn't give me the feel that I know he could. Maybe he just not good enough to beat Kauto Star and Long Run, but for me, a horse that wins an Arkle should be able to travel very easily for two to two and half miles in the King George, and if he doesn't stay over the last four fences, then fair enough.

"The way he appeared that day, yes, he looked like a slow horse, but he's far from that and in my eyes, there's more to come.

"I think that is an encouragement. If I didn't think there was any more to come, I'd be thinking that maybe Kauto Star and Long Run will need to run below their best if he's going to have a chance in the Gold Cup."

McCoy will be riding at Doncaster this afternoon rather than Cheltenham, while Grands Crus, who had been expected to start favourite for the Argento, was ruled out by David Pipe, his trainer, on Thursday.

Grands Crus, the season's best staying novice, could yet be a rival for Captain Chris at the Festival, but even in his absence, there is still quality in depth in today's race, with opponents including Time For Rupert, Diamond Harry and Midnight Chase.

"If we think he's a Gold Cup horse, we shouldn't be worried about any of the others," Johnson says. "For me, he's as nice a horse as I've ever had to deal with, and his attitude is fantastic too. Grahame and Diana Whateley [his owners] have been very patient with him as well, they bought him as a three-year-old and he didn't run until he was six.

"He's the one we're all looking forward to, the one that we still probably haven't seen the best of yet. I wouldn't say he's a forgotten horse, but hopefully he's going to surprise a few people on Saturday and in March."

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

Jockey rides favourite for Saturday's Festival Trials day feature

Richard Johnson's professional life became just a little more difficult at Warwick on Thursday, when Tony McCoy returned to race-riding after nearly a month on the sidelines, but the second-most successful jockey in National Hunt history is not one to complain.

"I'm sure some people think that I think it's good when he's not around," Johnson said, "but you never want to see people have to be off through injury and it's great to have him back. He's fantastic for racing, and for me it's a pleasure to ride with him. He's a good friend, and I sit next to him in the weighing room almost every day."

Johnson was not only pleased to have McCoy back in opposition, but seemed galvanised too. He recorded a front-running double on the day, and his performance on Inga Bird in the second race of the afternoon was an outstanding example of judgment and race-riding, as he kept just enough in reserve and then held his mount together in the straight to get home by a short-head.

McCoy failed to return with a winner at Warwick, but as so often over the last decade and a half, the title race is over already. Johnson has 115 winners this season, 20 more than Jason Maguire, the next rider on the list, but he was still 59 adrift of McCoy morning. Johnson seems booked for second place in the championship for the seventh season running, and the 14th time in 15 years.

Johnson was the leading conditional rider in 1995-96, when McCoy was winning the first of his 16 senior titles, and despite a career total of winners that puts him well head of riders like Peter Scudamore, who won eight championships, and John Francome (six), it remains the only title on his record.

But Johnson has won all four of the Cheltenham Festival's feature races – the World Hurdle still eludes McCoy – and hopes to emerge from Saturday's Argento Chase at Cheltenham with a serious contender for the Gold Cup in March.

Johnson will ride Captain Chris, last year's Arkle Trophy winner, who is likely to start favourite having finished third behind Kauto Star and Long Run in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. That run seems to give him something to find to be a plausible Gold Cup winner, but Johnson is confident that Captain Chris was not at his best at Kempton.

"I think it's the ideal race for him on Saturday," Johnson said between winners at Warwick. "We need to find out whether three miles around Cheltenham is his trip, and he needs to put up a good performance or realistically, he's not a Gold Cup horse. He's got two options at Cheltenham, the Ryanair Chase and the Gold Cup, so we'll be a lot wiser after the event.

"He just didn't travel and jump at Kempton as nicely as he can do. He didn't struggle, but he didn't give me the feel that I know he could. Maybe he just not good enough to beat Kauto Star and Long Run, but for me, a horse that wins an Arkle should be able to travel very easily for two to two and half miles in the King George, and if he doesn't stay over the last four fences, then fair enough.

"The way he appeared that day, yes, he looked like a slow horse, but he's far from that and in my eyes, there's more to come.

"I think that is an encouragement. If I didn't think there was any more to come, I'd be thinking that maybe Kauto Star and Long Run will need to run below their best if he's going to have a chance in the Gold Cup."

McCoy will be riding at Doncaster this afternoon rather than Cheltenham, while Grands Crus, who had been expected to start favourite for the Argento, was ruled out by David Pipe, his trainer, on Thursday.

Grands Crus, the season's best staying novice, could yet be a rival for Captain Chris at the Festival, but even in his absence, there is still quality in depth in today's race, with opponents including Time For Rupert, Diamond Harry and Midnight Chase.

"If we think he's a Gold Cup horse, we shouldn't be worried about any of the others," Johnson says. "For me, he's as nice a horse as I've ever had to deal with, and his attitude is fantastic too. Grahame and Diana Whateley [his owners] have been very patient with him as well, they bought him as a three-year-old and he didn't run until he was six.

"He's the one we're all looking forward to, the one that we still probably haven't seen the best of yet. I wouldn't say he's a forgotten horse, but hopefully he's going to surprise a few people on Saturday and in March."

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary

• Champion or World Hurdles under consideration
• Thyestes winner On His Own on Grand National trail

Zaidpour has the option of going over two or three miles at the Cheltenham Festival after getting the better of Voler La Vedette under a fine tactical ride from Ruby Walsh in the Grade Two Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park.

Walsh went into the race with an open mind as to whether to go from the front or track his main rival, but when none of his rivals were keen to go on, he was able to set pedestrian early fractions from the front which saw Voler la Vedette take a keener grip of the bridle than her jockey would have preferred.

Although headed with a circuit to go by outsider Whatuthink with a circuit to go, Zaidpour was back in front by the third-last hurdle and Walsh kept enough up his sleeve to deny the persistent challenge of the favourite by a length.

Held in high regard by connections last season, his campaign ended in disappointment last with three consecutive Grade One defeats. However, there remains time for Zaidpour to fulfil his potential and the trainer Willie Mullins will now send the horse for either the Champion Hurdle or the World Hurdle at Cheltenham.

"I'd given her [Voler La Vedette] a lead the last twice and she swept past and I thought she might do the same again but it was clear at the start no one was going to make it, so I sauntered along in front," said Walsh. "We really didn't go at much pace at all. He just loves soft ground - you couldn't have it soft enough for him."

Sadly for Walsh his hopes that he might go on to claim one of the few big Irish races to have so far eluded him, the Goffs Thyestes Chase, were scuppered, when once again he ended up on board the wrong horse.

The trainer Willie Mullins, winning the contest for the fourth time, saddled four in the race but rather than 10-1 winner On His Own, Walsh partnered the pulled-up joint-favourite Shakervilz.

On His Own, partnered by David Casey, was giving owner Graham Wylie another high-profile success from the half-dozen horses he transferred to Mullins's care after the former trainer Howard Johnson was banned from the sport last year.

"We thought we might have a sneaky chance of winning the Paddy Power Chase with him [last time out], but he missed the break although he was still travelling well enough when he was brought down two out," said the winning trainer.

"Today it was Ruby who missed the break while he [On His Own] was the only fellow who was up there, jumping, and he's a big strong horse who enjoyed that.

"Asking Ruby to get down to that weight is not something you want to do on cold days like this. I was happy enough that he was riding Shakervilz and so was he, I think. But it's good for David, who gets what's left. He's done amazingly well riding horses that others have turned down in the past, including lots of winners for me."

Casey partnered Hedgehunter to win this race for Mullins in 2004, before the horse took the Grand National the following year, and Aintree could also be the target for On His Own.

"He's certainly the right sort of horse for it and he'll be entered," said Mullins.

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary