Two Cheltenham Festival winners and a host of placed horses from the big meeting in March make this year’s Paddy Power Gold Cup one not to be missed.

Stage Star and The Real Whacker took the Turners Novices’ Chase and Brown Advisory respectively at the showpiece fixture, and both have featured heavily in the ante-post market on this historic handicap.

The former disappointed when last of five at Aintree after Cheltenham, but Paul Nicholls is not losing sleep over that ahead of the weekend.

“You can put a line through his last start at Aintree, which was one race too many after a busy campaign,” the champion trainer told Betfair.

“The Paddy Power has been the target for him since the summer and there are plenty of positives, as he is brilliant fresh, having won first time out for the last three seasons.

“He also likes racing left-handed, will not mind how soft the ground gets and we know he handles Cheltenham.

“Yes, he does have a lot of weight because he is rated on what he achieved last year but it helps that the top one (The Real Whacker) runs, which means Stage Star is on a nice racing weight of 11st 7lb.”

Trained by Patrick Neville, The Real Whacker is a perfect three from three over fences – with all of those runs coming at Cheltenham.

Unsurprisingly, the Gold Cup is his big target and it is also not a shock connections have opted to start his season here, even with his welter burden of 12st.

“Two and a half (miles) is a lovely starting point for him. He won over two and a half in January in the Dipper,” said North Yorkshire-based Neville.

“We’ll just go our own gallop and if anything wants to take him on or go a cutthroat gallop, then we’ll let them on, as he doesn’t have to make the running.

“When he ran in Doncaster, we dropped him out stone last, so if something else wanted to make the running, it might even help carry him into it a bit, but we’ll see.

“Hopefully, he’ll run his race and come back sound and we’ll move on to the next day.”

Dan Skelton saddles Unexpected Party – fifth in the Turners and a Listed winner on his return at Chepstow last month, form subsequently boosted by runner-up Knappers Hill.

Skelton said: “Unexpected Party beat Knappers Hill, who came out and won easy at Wincanton, which he was entitled to do, being honest. I expected Knappers Hill to win that, so I don’t think it improves our chance.

“What it did do was offer comfort that I was as confident with Unexpected Party on Friday night as I was on Saturday night. He’s got the right profile for the race, but we thought that before seeing what Knappers Hill came out and did.

“He ran in the Turners at the Cheltenham Festival and he has turned up on some big days. The preliminaries before the race won’t get to him and that is a big part of it.

“He is a good traveller and a slick jumper, and I don’t want to put the mockers on him with a comment like that, but that is what he is good at, and that is what you need for a race like this.”

Another runner for Nicholls is last year’s fourth Il Ridoto, who also has winning form at the Prestbury Park circuit.

The Ditcheat handler said: “He ran a series of solid races last season carrying big weights and finally got his reward with a fluent victory at this track in January, then didn’t take to the National fences at Aintree (in the Topham).

“He is 6lb higher now so it’s a bonus that Freddie Gingell’s claim takes off a handy 5lb. Il Ridoto is a year older, more mature and should be knocking on the door again.”

Sam Thomas has enjoyed a good start to the new season and he sends out Angels Breath, who showed his well-being with a solid second over hurdles here last month.

“We were thrilled with him last time and it is sort of now or never really. He’s a nine-year-old in good form, so we thought we would take our chance,” Thomas said.

“It’s a very competitive race, but we’re lucky to have such a lovely horse and fingers crossed he puts in a good performance and comes back safe and sound.”

Also prominent in the market is the Lauran Morgan-trained Notlongtillmay, second only to Stage Star in the Turners in March.

“This was the aim, we’re 3lb better off with Stage Star and Stage Star isn’t going to get an easy lead like he did in the Turners – there’s going to be a lot of pace in this on Saturday,” Morgan said.

“With The Real Whacker running, our lad goes in there with a nice racing weight (11st 4lb) and he’ll go through the (soft) ground, that wouldn’t worry me at all.”

Like Nicholls, Morgan has a second-string to her bow in the shape of Whistleinthedark.

She added: “I’m not too fussed about not getting a run in, as he’s done a lot of work at home. We’ve got a two-mile grass gallop and he’s fairly ready without having had that run to sharpen him – he’s not far away.”

The Real Whacker will have the weight of history on his shoulders in Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham, but his trainer Patrick Neville is unconcerned.

It is two years since the Irish handler made the move from his home in County Limerick to set up at Ann Duffield’s Sun Hill Farm in the Yorkshire Dales, a switch which coincided with the unearthing of a horse that would take his career to new heights.

The Real Whacker was a €21,000 purchase by Neville as an unraced three-year-old in 2019 – and but for the Coronavirus pandemic, there is every chance he would now be in different hands.

“I took a chance on him as I bought him myself a store horse and I had him a year and a half before he was ready to run in a point-to-point. The plan was to run him in a point-to-point and sell him,” Neville explained.

“I knew he was a good horse, we had him ready to run in a point-to-point as a four-year-old and then Covid struck and that was it.

“We said that was our chance gone then as he was a five-year-old, so said we’d keep him and give him a run on the track.”

The Real Whacker finished sixth of 18 as a 150-1 shot on his racecourse debut in a Listowel maiden hurdle in the autumn of 2021, after which he was packed up to make the move across the Irish Sea.

It did not take him long to make an impact on British soil, bolting up at Carlisle in Duffield’s name, as Neville – who currently trains a string of around 20 horses and rides his stable star every day – worked on getting set up in the UK in his own name.

He said: “When we ran him in Listowel the ground was a bit too good and he was a couple of weeks off being really ready. He had an educational run and he ran very well.

“It was a good race he won in Carlisle and we then took him to the Grade Two in Doncaster (River Don Novices’ Hurdle), where he was a bit unlucky because there was a woeful head wind that day, he got pulled across the track in the straight and lost a lot of ground. He was still a bit green at that stage as well as it was only his third run, so it was a good run to finish second (to Mahler Mission).

“He was to run in the Albert Bartlett then, but he got a knock so we didn’t run him and he was left off then for the season. He came back and had run over hurdles at Cheltenham in October on ground that was a bit quick for him and we decided after that we’d go straight over fences.”

While the son of Mahler was clearly a high-class operator over the smaller obstacles, it is since being switched the larger obstacles that he has really excelled – winning each of his three starts to date, all at Cheltenham, including the narrowest of Festival triumphs over leading Gold Cup contender Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory in March.

“I always thought he was going to be a proper chaser. His run in Doncaster showed me that he was a real good horse and the day he won in Carlisle, the way he pulled away from good horses over three-mile-one, he just galloped away from them,” said Neville.

“Going to Cheltenham in March, I wasn’t even thinking of any other horse in the race, only our own horse – that’s the way I think every day.

“You could be sizing up everything else and thinking about different tactics and all that, but I just like to think of our own horse and what we’re going to do.

“Gerri Colombe is a good horse, he’s proved it every time he’s run. I’m still listening to people saying ‘if there was another stride’ he’d have won, but life is full of ifs and buts, isn’t it?

“If they both run in the Gold Cup and he annihilates us, well isn’t it good to be there taking him on and having a go?

“I had a great craic with the owner of Gerri Colombe (Brian Acheson) in Aintree earlier in the year. He’s a good sport and if we finish second to him in the Gold Cup we wouldn’t mind!”

Having sidestepped a small-field engagement at Carlisle a couple of weeks ago, The Real Whacker will instead make his comeback on familiar territory in one of the season’s most prestigious handicaps with 12st on his back.

Al Ferof 11 years ago was the last horse to carry top-weight to victory in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, while you have to go back to Dublin Flyer in 1995 to find the last winner rated in the 160s.

Neville, though, is not one for worrying about statistics, instead focussing on getting his pride and joy to Prestbury Park in the best possible shape for what he views as a starting point rather than the end goal for the season.

He said: “I don’t get too nervous about these things. All we can do is look after him and get him there healthy and well and fit and as good as we can.

“I don’t take much notice of all this carry on with people saying ‘if he doesn’t win on Saturday, he’s not this or he’s not that’. It’s only the start of the season for us.

“He’s come back a bit stronger, so we’d be hoping he’d improve. He’s only ran seven times, so he’s still a very lightly-raced horse for his age.

“We gave him that time and gave him time between races because he’s such a lightly-framed horse and he tries so hard. Even in his work and his cantering he puts everything in, so I think if you ran him too often you’d end up with a very light horse.

“He’s fit and ready for his run and whatever happens on Saturday, and I’d be expecting a big run, he’ll definitely improve.

“You can’t be confident in a race like that, but we’re going there hoping he’ll run very well.”

While looking forward to this weekend’s assignment and another stop or two along the way, in Neville’s mind there is one day that matters above all else and it arrives in four months’ time.

He added: “We’re working back from the Gold Cup and after Saturday we’d be looking forward to Christmas and going for the King George. There’s no reason why not, there isn’t a whole pile else.

“The Cotswold Chase at the end of January might be nearly too near the Festival, so if he ran at Christmas we might just leave him then, but we’ll see.

“Obviously there’s a lot of water to flow under the bridge between now and March and there’ll be a lot of talk about different horses and there’s always a new kid on the block coming.

“There’s a lot of good horses around at the moment, but we have something to dream of anyway, which is what it’s all about.”

Laura Morgan could be set for the biggest day of her training career so far at Cheltenham on Saturday as she prepares to fire a twin assault on the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

The Waltham On The Wolds handler enjoyed her best ever season last term with a tally of 40 winners, seven of which were provided by the two horses she saddles in this weekend’s prestigious handicap.

Morgan is not expecting such a prolific campaign this term, but is hopeful she can make her presence felt on the big stage.

She said: “Last season, we had 40 winners and a lot more horses in, whereas this year we’ve only got 25 horses to run and 10 three-year-olds.

“I bought some three-year-olds with nice pedigrees that will hopefully be nice horses for next year, that’s the idea.

“We’re not going to have the season we had last year, but I’ve tried to up the quality and hopefully we can have runners on the bigger days.”

The stable’s first string on Saturday appears to be Notlongtillmay, who won his first three starts over fences last term before filling the runner-up spot behind the reopposing Stage Star in the Turners Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The seven-year-old returned to Prestbury Park for his seasonal reappearance in a two-mile handicap chase last month – and having finished a creditable fourth under the welter burden of 12 stone, Morgan feels he is cherry-ripe for his latest big-race assignment.

“Two miles is way too short and I’d left him short enough as well – it wasn’t like he was fully tuned up for that,” she added.

“I was going to go to Wetherby for a two-and-a-half-mile race on the Friday of the Charlie Hall meeting, but obviously that was abandoned, so thank God I actually gave him a prep run before then.

“This was the aim, we’re 3lb better off with Stage Star and Stage Star isn’t going to get an easy lead like he did in the Turners – there’s going to be a lot of pace in this on Saturday.

“With The Real Whacker running, our lad goes in there with a nice racing weight (11st 4lb) and he’ll go through the (soft) ground, that wouldn’t worry me at all.”

Notlongtillmay’s stablemate Whistleinthedark also enjoyed an excellent first season over fences, climbing from a mark of 113 to his current perch of 144 with four wins from four starts.

He has not been seen in competitive action since scoring at Perth in late April, but Morgan is confident he is ready enough to do himself justice.

She said: “I had planned to give him a prep run – he was going to go to Market Rasen for the Prelude (Handicap Chase), but it was abandoned.

“I’m not too fussed about not getting a run in as he’s done a lot of work at home. We’ve got a two-mile grass gallop and he’s fairly ready without having had that run to sharpen him – he’s not far away.

“I never thought he’d be rated what he’s rated and would do what he did when he first arrived. I thought he’d be an average, fun, handicapper, but he’s been brilliant.”

Morgan is fully aware that winning one of the season’s biggest prizes is no easy task and she is just pleased to be heading to the Cotswolds with a fighting chance.

She added: “They’re all up against it, not just us, but it’s very exciting for a small yard like ours and fingers crossed they’ll both go and run well.

“They won’t let us down, anyway – these two don’t know how to!”

Connections are hopeful Stage Star will give his legion of owners plenty to shout about when the Cheltenham Festival hero returns in the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Saturday week.

Trained by Paul Nicholls, the seven-year-old is 5-1 favourite with the sponsors ahead of his return in the prestigious handicap that is the feature of Cheltenham’s three-day November meeting.

It is at Prestbury Park where Stage Star enjoyed some of his finest moments over fences last term and having carried a huge weight to victory on Festival Trials Day, returned in March to claim the Grade One Turners Novices’ Chase with a fine front-running display.

His course form gives his ownership team plenty of hope ahead of his seasonal reappearance and although disappointing when a heavy favourite on his final start of the 2022-23 campaign at Aintree, he is yet to finish outside of the first two when running between October and December.

“He’s in good form and obviously likes the track,” said Dan Downie of Owners Group, owners of Stage Star.

“He’s ready to go and this has been the target for a while. It’s going to be tough and he’ll be carrying a lot of weight, but Paul is happy with him and we’re looking forward to running him.

“We looked at a few options, but he does need to go left-handed, so we were a bit short on where we could go, But we know he loves the track so we thought this would be a reasonable starting point for him.”

The Real Whacker will make his seasonal reappearance in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in a fortnight’s time, after connections opted against Sunday’s Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase at Carlisle.

The seven-year-old enjoyed a tremendous novice campaign over fences last season for North Yorkshire-based Irishman Patrick Neville, winning each of his three starts at Cheltenham including a narrow victory over Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Festival in March.

This weekend’s Listed event in Cumbria appeared an ideal starting point on the road to a tilt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the spring – but with testing conditions forecast, he will instead carry top-weight of 12st in one of the season’s first major handicaps at Prestbury Park on November 18.

Neville said: “I’m not going to go to Carlisle as the ground is too heavy at the moment. It’s his first run back, so we said we’d wait for Cheltenham and go for the Paddy Power.

“Hopefully the ground will be a lot better at Cheltenham and we know he likes the track. He’ll have top-weight, but it’ll be his first run back and a starting point for the year.

“He’s in great shape, I couldn’t be happier with him. Sam (Twiston-Davies) came up to Middleham during the week and sat on him for the first time since Cheltenham in March and he was very happy.

“Carlisle would have been a lovely starting point, but on heavy ground around there we just decided we didn’t want to do that to him first time out.”

Fugitif is on course to reappear in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on November 18.

The Richard Hobson-trained eight-year-old improved markedly last season, beginning the campaign rated 131 and ending it with a mark of 153.

Having finished second at Cheltenham both on Trials Day and at the Festival in March, Hobson has no concerns over the course or distance, and is just hoping Fugitif gets his favoured soft ground.

“We’re all on course for the Paddy Power,” said Hobson. “We know he likes the course and distance and if he gets his ground he could be very dangerous.

“He wasn’t right at the end of the season when he ran at Aintree so we can safely put a line through that run, but prior to that he’d been very progressive.

“He’s 17:2hh so with another summer on his back you can only imagine how much he has strengthened up.

“He does need a cut in the ground, you saw last year at Chepstow when he won it was very soft that day and he loved it, he never came off the bridle.

“I think the middle distance at Cheltenham is right up his street myself, but I did put him in the King George because if he wins the Paddy Power it’s a flat three miles and on his pedigree who should get it. It’s only an early entry, though.”

Cheltenham Festival victor Stage Star is due to make his seasonal debut at the Cotswolds track in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

The Paul Nicholls-trained gelding had a successful time of things last season, enjoying a graduation to novice chasing when banking four wins including in the Grade One Turners Novices’ Chase at the showpiece fixture in March.

After a summer break the seven-year-old is now being prepared to return to action over the same course and distance in November, where he heads the ante-post market with the sponsors at 6-1.

“We’re very happy with him and we’re hoping to run him first time out in the Paddy Power,” said Dan Downie of Owners Group, to whom Stage Star belongs.

“He’s summered really well and Paul’s been delighted with him in recent weeks, so the plan is to go to Cheltenham with him.”

Stage Star – who was also a Grade One winner as a novice hurdler – has been very effective over a trip of two and a half miles, though connections do consider him capable of stepping up in distance in time.

“We’ll just see how we go, we’ve always thought he would get further but I suppose this will tell us a bit more and we’ll go from race to race,” said Downie.

Donald McCain’s Maximilian also runs in the silks of Owners Group and he too is limbering up for a first run of the campaign after Storm Babet scuppered plans for a Carlisle debut this week.

The chestnut was a Graded-winning hurdler last term when taking the River Don before finishing second in Aintree’s Sefton, with a novice chasing campaign the plan this time around.

“He’s good, he was going to run at Carlisle on Thursday but we missed a bit of work last week because of the storm,” Downie said.

“Donald’s gallops were affected a little bit so he will run in the next couple of weeks, the plan at the minute is to go novice chasing with him.

“You’ve got to keep an open mind and be flexible but he jumps very well at home and really enjoys it, so we’d be thinking of a novice chasing campaign at the moment for him.”