Cue Card and Menorah face off in a fascinating five-runner renewal of the Sportingbet Haldon Gold Cup today at Exeter.
Colin Tizzard's Cue Card beat the subsequently impressive Old Roan Chase winner For Non Stop at Newbury and then finished second to Sprinter Sacre in the Arkle.
The Philip Hobbs-trained Menorah took his time to warm to fences and was beaten much further in the Arkle.
However, by the time he got to Aintree he knew his job and landed a Grade 1 in style, beating Saturday's Down Royal winner Cristal Bonus by seven lengths. He ended his season with a fourth in heavy ground at the Punchestown Festival.
Hobbs has recently won the race with Monkerhostin (2005) and Planet Of Sound (2009).
Paul Nicholls runs Edgardo Sol, who proved very versatile last season.
Renard, trained by Venetia Williams, improved tremendously last season and is also in contention, while Jermy Scott's Webberys Dream completes the field.
Tizzard has been happy with Cue Card's preparation ahead of his seasonal bow. "Menorah will be no push-over, that's for sure," said the Dorset handler. "He beat us over hurdles, though we beat him in the Arkle. We're receiving 3lb tomorrow, though, which certainly helps the cause.
"I think this is a lovely starting place. Exeter's quite stiff, so it's the equivalent of two and a half miles anyway, although I'm sure he'll stay further than that. The ground is good to soft, which is fine, so everything is right for him.
"We could have gone to Wetherby for the Charlie Hall but they got rain and I wouldn't have wanted to bottom him first time up. We'll know which way we go with him after this."
Hobbs hopes he has also made the right decision in choosing to stay close to home with Menorah. "All his preperations have gone well and he seems in good order," said the Minehead handler.
Richard Johnson takes the ride and believes the Grade 2 is an ideal starting point. "He seems in very good form at home and this looks a nice place to start him off," said Johnson. "Fingers crossed everything goes well and then we can decide where to go after this.
"Past winners of this race have tended to be stayers rather than speed horses and he won over two and a half miles at Aintree. It's a competitive race and we hope he improves from it. The ground is good to soft, which should be fine, as he likes it nice. He just got stuck in the mud at Punchestown so, hopefully, the rain will stay away."
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