Nick Gifford is looking forward to saddling both Tullamore Dew and Nomecheki in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on November 12.
Tullamore Dew has good form at Prestbury Park having finished second in the Coral Cup and third in the Centenary Novices' Handicap Chase at the last two Festivals. The nine-year-old ran with plenty of credit when fifth in the Silver Trophy over hurdles at Chepstow on Saturday and Gifford is looking forward to seeing him return to Prestbury Park.
Gifford said: "The plan is for Tullamore Dew to run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup. I couldn't be happier with him after his run at the weekend. He needed every yard of the two and a half miles at Chepstow and, because they go that bit quicker over hurdles, it caught him out a little bit but he was doing all of his best work at the end. That will have put him spot on for Cheltenham."
He added: "He is a good jumper and he loves Cheltenham - he's run two very good races there over the past two years. Ideally, we would like good to soft ground but he is a very versatile horse.
"We think that he is going to end up over three miles at some point in his career and it might be this season. The Paddy Power Gold Cup will tell us a lot about where we go with him for the rest of the campaign."
Nomecheki is a much bigger price in ante-post lists but Gifford feels he will benefit from a step up in trip, having finished a fine second to the high-class Tataniano at Chepstow over the weekend.
"Nomecheki also ran well at Chepstow and he is a horse who is probably not quite good enough over two miles, so we will step him up in trip and I think that he will appreciate a race like the Paddy Power," Gifford added.
"He is a very sound jumper with not too many miles on the clock. He travelled very well on Saturday but was totally outclassed by the winner - they think that Tataniano is a Tingle Creek horse, so it was no disgrace to come home second behind him."
An entry of 51 has been received for the £150,000 contest, with champion trainer Paul Nicholls entering the likes of ante-post favourite Mon Parrain, Poquelin and exciting French recruit Kauto Stone, a half-brother to stablemate Kauto Star. Other notable entries include Ferdy Murphy's Festival winner Divers, high-class chaser Wishfull Thinking and Great Endeavour.
The latter's trainer, David Pipe, said: "I've entered Great Endeavour and we'll see closer to the time whether he runs. He's done very well over the summer and strengthened up. That last run at Liverpool came at the end of a long season and he was disappointing, but I do think that he can bounce back this year."
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