Pipe Holds Power Aces Last year´s winner Celestial Gold tops a list of 27 confirmations for Saturday´s Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham. The seven-year-old, who beat Thisthatandtother by one and three-quarter lengths 12 months ago, is part of a possible five-strong assault on the race by trainer Martin Pipe. Our Vic, a top novice chaser in 2004, is the 9-2 second favourite with William Hill and would appear to be the first string for Pipe and owner David Johnson. The Pond House handler also has It Takes Time, Therealbandit and Windsor Boy to choose from in the extended two-and-a-half-mile showpiece. Philip Hobbs´ Monkerhostin is the 3-1 favourite with Hills after winning the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter last week, while the Minehead trainer also has the well-fancied Lacdoudal. Brooklyn Breeze, from the Len Lungo yard, is a leading player after making a winning return over hurdles at Aintree last month. Paul Nicholls could be triple-handed with Armaturk, Le Passing and My Will. Nicky Henderson has both Fondmort and Liberthine still engaged, with Lord Sam and Irish raiders Forget The Past, Euro Leader and Mariah Rollins also among the interesting contenders. The sponsors make Monkerhostin and Our Vic the 4-1 joint-favourites, with Lacdoudal next best on 13-2. Paddy Power also off a special bet of 7-2 about any one of Pipe´s team winning the race. Paddy Power bet: 4-1 Monkerhostin, Our Vic, 13-2 Lacdoudal, 9-1 Brooklyn Breeze, 12-1 Forget The Past, My Will, 14-1 Celestial Gold, Redemption, 16-1 Kandjar d´Allier, Le Passing, 20-1 Fondmort, Therealbandit, 25-1 Lord Sam, Mariah Rollins, Always, Liberthine, 28-1 Armaturk, Euro Leader, Full House, It Takes Time, 33-1 bar. (C) PA Sport
