FIRST GOLD SPOT-ON AHEAD OF AON

Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite First Gold is set to warm-up for the Festival in Saturday`s Stg£50,000 AON Chase at Newbury.

The Francois Doumen-trained gelding, impressive winner of the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, heads the nine entries made for the three-mile contest today.

And the eight-year-old will clash with another leading Gold Cup hope in the shape of the Nicky Henderson-trained Marlborough.

Doumen said of First Gold today: 'He`s spot-on, everything is fine.

'He worked this morning and we`re just going to give him a little school on Wednesday.

'He had a break for three weeks with just steady, easy work and it all went according to plan.'

The French trainer is hoping ground conditions at Newbury will be less testing than at Sandown on Saturday where his two runners, Ben Ewar and Bounce Back, were both beaten.

'The horse has been running at Auteuil on very soft ground so I think he can cope with that but I would prefer some better ground than on Saturday,' Doumen added.

Doumen is also set to be represented by Carthago in the Bury`s Bank Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race at the Berkshire track.

Testing ground is also a concern for connections of Marlborough who has not raced since winning on his seasonal debut at Cheltenham in December.

However they are running out of options for the gelding, an 8-1 chance for the Gold Cup with Ladbrokes.

Owner Robert Ogden`s racing manager Barry Simpson said: 'We would look forward to better ground in the spring for Marlborough but we`ve got to go somewhere with him. We`re in the hands of the weather.

'We`re looking for a good run on Saturday. I don`t think anybody in their wildest dreams thinks we`re going to beat First Gold but we`re expecting him to run extremely well.'

The nine-year-old`s trainer Nicky Henderson added: 'It`s very much his toughest task to date but it`s where we`ve always wanted to go. It will be a good track for him and I`m very happy.'

Kingsmark could also represent Ogden in the race but Simpson added: 'He is also in a two-and-a-half-mile race at Ayr on Saturday and the AON Chase is just another option for him.

'Realistically there would be very little point in running but silly things do happen.'

Exciting novice Shotgun Willy is reported to be a possible runner, although Paul Nicholls` charge also holds an entry in the cantorindex.com Novices` Chase on the same card.

Lord Noelie, who fell during the early stages of the Pillar Property Chase at Cheltenham last time and Go Ballistic, who finished a distance behind See More Business in second in that race, are also among the entries, as is last year`s Martell Grand National winner Papillon.

AON Chase entries: First Gold, Go Ballistic, Kingsmark, Listen Timmy, Lord Noelie, Marlborough, Mulligan, Papillon and Shotgun Willy (9).