Paddy Power favourite in good shape Paul Nicholls reports ante-post favourite Mon Parrain in good shape ahead of Saturday's Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham. The five-year-old was an impressive winner on his UK debut at Sandown last season, before finishing a fine second in the Topham Chase at Aintree in April. The French import has been popular in the betting since the weights were revealed for Saturday's Grade 2 contest, and Nicholls was delighted to get a racecourse gallop into the horse last week. He told At The Races: "He's fine, and I was pleased to get a racecourse gallop into him at Exeter last week as he's been quite slow to come to hand and has had a few minor niggling problems. "He hasn't had a breathing operation over the summer but we felt we were running out of time slightly so it was nice to get to Exeter." The gelding drops in trip to two and a half miles on Saturday but Nicholls is unconcerned about the shorter distance. "He won really well over three miles at Sandown but he was so well-handicapped that day that he would have won over any trip. "He's only five but he looks a stronger horse this year and he still looks fairly handicapped," added the Ditcheat handler. Nicholls confirmed that top-weight Poquelin will take his chance assuming that he works well on Thursday and there is not a deluge of rain, whilst stablemate Aerial is also set to run.
