Racing:Paul Nicholls believes Saturday's Aon Chase will leave Denman spot-on for his bid to regain the Gold Cup crown at Cheltenham next month. The 10-year-old won the event en route to glory in steeplechasing's most prestigious prize in 2008, although little went right the following season due to heart problems.
He was right back to his brilliant best in the Hennessy at Newbury in November and just needs to come through this assignment to set him up for another mouthwatering clash with stablemate Kauto Star at Cheltenham on March 19th.
"It has worked well winning this race on the way to Cheltenham before," said Nicholls today. "In an ideal situation you need a run at this time of year.
"It's not essential, but it was always in his programme to have a run here as mentally it does them all good to get out.
"The form he was in at the Hennessy, we could quite easily have run him fresh (in the Gold Cup) without a run but he's a little more stuffy than Kauto Star and it just fits in with his preperation.
"Before he won the Hennessy we took him down to Exeter for a gallop but we left plenty to work on, the idea was that he'd have a nice day out and it would bring him on and it worked perfectly."
Denman will face five rivals on Saturday including stable companion Tricky Trickster, a leading Grand National contender.
Niche Market, Air Force One, Ollie Magern and Wee Robbie complete the field.
Nicholls is also keeping his fingers crossed Master Minded can show his true colours in the totepool Game Spirit Chase at Newbury on Saturday.
The dual champion chaser was beaten into third on his first start of the season at Cheltenham, but it later transpired he had suffered a broken rib.
The champion trainer has slowly nurtured his charge back to full health and is hoping for a good performance ahead of his bid for a third Champion Chase crown.
"We'll know on Saturday if we can get him right back to his best. I've been very pleased with what I've seen," said Nicholls. "Obviously it was good to pick up something was wrong after Cheltenham, if we'd seen nothing we'd have been scratching our heads.
"I have been very impressed with him since he came back into work, he looks fabulous and when he won the Champion Chase two years ago his run before was in the Game Spirit, so it fits in nicely."
Five runners go to post for the Grade Two contest with former Champion Chase and Arkle hero Voy Por Ustedes dropping back to two miles after disappointing in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown.
Fix The Rib is an interesting contender for Gary Moore, while Kinkeel and Mahogany Blaze complete the line-up.
Big-race jockey Ruby Walsh was pleased with Master Minded in a recent schooling session - but he too is waiting for him to show his true colours on the track.
"I rode him work last Tuesday and he schooled really well," said Walsh. "He is such a gentleman of a horse to school it's impossible to know how he is, but Georgie who rides him out all the time is happy with him and Paul is happy, so hopefully the real Master Minded will turn up at Newbury on Saturday."