THE PRICEWISE VERDICT

TOM SEGAL

WHILE the novice chasers over shorter trips probably aren’t going to trouble the proven stars, the 3m novice chase form last season looked exceptional.

As he has no standout horse for the Gold Cup, I would expect Willie Mullins to train Galopin Des Champs for the race. If he does stay, he is going to be exceptional but don’t rule out last season’s British novices L’Homme Presse and Ahoy Senor.

The latter might not jump quite well enough to win the Gold Cup but he should be a major player in all the other big races over 3m, while on testing ground L’Homme Presse would come right into the reckoning in any race he runs in.

Of course they all have to go some to beat last year’s runaway Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard, who looks sure to have a similar campaign to last season, which saw him start out in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

Others to consider for big races in a jam-packed division are Conflated, who seems certain to improve the further he goes, and the amazing Hewick, who would have won the Kerry National off a mark of 163 but for coming down at the last.