Taquin Du Seuil© Photo Healy Racing
Saturday's Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham looks set to be a re-run of the BetVictor Gold Cup with the first five in the latter race among 19 confirmations at the five-day stage.
The Jonjo O'Neill-trained Taquin Du Seuil, who took last month's prize, heads the weights for the valuable handicap over two miles and five furlongs.
His potential rivals include the horses who finished immediately behind him in the BetVictor - runner-up Village Vic, the third Buywise and fourth and fifth, Aso and Bouvreuil. Art Mauresque, who was seventh, is also in the mix.
Buywise's trainer, Evan Williams, has also left in King's Odyssey while Aso's trainer Venetia Williams has a second string in Tenor Nivernais.
The latter was third in this race 12 months ago behind the Philip Hobbs-trained Village Vic, whose jockey Richard Johnson is expecting another big show.
"This looks to be the plan for Village Vic, who won the race last year. He came out of last month's excellent run really well and he absolutely loves it at Cheltenham," Johnson told betway.com.
"It's amazing that they might have to water the course at this time of year. We'd ideally prefer good to soft ground, but the softer it gets the harder it is to concede the weight, so it isn't a worry at the moment.
"It will be another very competitive race, but I'd like to think he'll put up another bold show."
Colin Tizzard, who is enjoying a tremendous season, is doubly-represented with Quite By Chance and Sizing Codelco while other possibles include Kylemore Lough, Module, Roman Flight, Thomas Brown and Aloomomo.
