Any thoughts on this having seen the first of the trials? I'd personally now take a little reverse forecast on the first two from today and have silviniaco conti to win.

have to be impressed with IC today just a little short of work and match form will come on for the run

I thought IC was very impressive after such a long lay off. Can he win the GC at twelve years of age though? I'm hoping so!

he has a chance but age is a concern but trends are meant to be broken like rules

The 50/1 I had taken the other week on IC has gone and is just 16's in places now for the gold cup.

Have to say yesterday was one of the best meetings i've seen at Cheltenham in a long time. A really great day out which was capped off with IC's stunning run. The whole crowd seemed to be roaring him on up the hill.

A massive well done to the ground staff who put in a total of 2,500 hours of labour to shift the snow.

Tremendous effort to get the course "raceable", and thanks for the heads up on IC for the GC too Pricey, I'm on e/w @ 50/1 too!

very nice too
he has to have a great chance NTD will work him hard now to get him to peak fitness
almost a place banker

There must be doubts over that form though. I know a fair few people did tip up Cape Tribulation but their thinking was mainly based on the lack of certainty over the rest of the field.

Dont get me wrong I would love IC to run well (especially as I nibbled on the big prices before the weekend) but I cant see CT getting a place and therefore I'm not sure IC will get one either (even more so as he was 6lb better off on Saturday).

No problem, I thought 50/1 was very generous and so I thought id share my opinion.

He obviously has to improve again but having run so well on Saturday you cannot rule IC out of a very open GC. Twiston-Davies said both before and after the race that he has left lots of work to do on the horse before the festival and the Argento was just to see if the fire was still burning. Theres no doubt he hast lost none of his ability and Twiston-Davies can now focus on getting him 100% ready for the GC.

I'm desperate for Bob's Worth to win it and give NH and Barry Geraghty the big four festival races after Darlan/Bioncular in the Champion Hurdle, Sprinter Sacre in the Champion Chase, Oscar Whiskey in the World Hurdle (even though I'm rooting for a different horse I wouldn't mind seeing this one win for them). Along with taking countless other races along the way. It'll be hard though against some of the others. I'd also be happy if Imperial Commander could win, but with his tendons, breaks and blood vessel issues I'd be concerned if the ground had very much good in it. I hope that Grands Crus is put away now and they bring him back next season, but he's another I really like so it would be good if he could get a place... I'm not a huge Long Run or SWC fan, and though he could very easily be there at the finish and it wouldn't at all be a shock if he could run away with it; there are too many 'maybes' for me to even consider him.

Silvinaco Conti looks the one to beat Bob's Worth, but PN said at the start of the season 'He'll be a Gold Cup horse one day.' This would have me thinking that he won't be thrashed just to scrape a place if he isn't in front at the last. But who knows with PN, if he is bottomed to win the Gold Cup no doubt PN will find some kind of wind op to give him over the summer so he can come back next season.

Then there's Captain Chris, if he goes for the Gold Cup. I'm a HUGE Richard Johnson and Phillip Hobbs fan so it would make my whole year if this guy could win. But I'd be concerned about his jumping even though it's been an awful lot better this season, there's a lot of pressure on that last day and it might just get to him. I'm also still not convinced he gets 3m let alone nearly 3m4f, but Richard Johnson is adamant that he does, so who am I to argue with experience like that?!

I think it's quite a hard year, Cape Tribulation could have a good chance if the ground were soft and took some of the speed out of the others. Like someone else said, barring Bob's Worth, Long Run Imperial Commander, Captain Chris and Silvinaco Conti it's looking like a glorified handicap. But it was won by a handicapper last year so who knows what might happen this year...

Don't forget Sir Des Champs from that list. Mullins says this horse is an out and out stayer and he thinks the world of him. His record at the festival is very handy aswel. If he's there turning for home he wont be outstayed that's for sure.

I think personally synchronised was underrated and the term handicapper doesn't do him justice. Personally I think silviniaco conti, he's got the best form by far and has been well rested. Also, judging by the king George, it would appear captain Chris definitely stays three miles, though its worth noting he does perform well on heavy ground. Personally I think bobs worth is a bit overrated, he didn't beat tidal bay by far enough taking I to account the fact he was recieving 6lb, and I still think the better form will come from the grade 1s, and as for sdc, hes done nothing this year to suggest he could win.