Denman has wind op

Denman was operated on for his wind soon after finishing a creditable third to Diamond Harry in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury last November reports trainer Paul Nicholls.

Writing in his exclusive column at www.betfair.com/paulnicholls he said: "Denman had a soft palate operation, and the reason why we gave him that was to give him every possible chance of winning at Cheltenham."

Nicholls also detailed that his main Festival hopes were in good form at home, pleasing the Ditcheat handler in their routine work.

"We took four of our big Festival guns for a racecourse gallop this morning, and they all fired nicely. They all worked over 2m, going a nice steady gallop, then quickening up in the final furlong.

"Denman (Sam Thomas) worked with Big Buck's (Harry Skelton), and Poquelin (Ian Popham) worked with Ghizao (Nick Scholfield). All four went nicely, but it was not a serious gallop. It was just a nice trip out for them," he added.