17:03

Extraordinarily, Willie Mullins is trying to win this race for the 10th time, having bagged last year’s running with the strong-finishing Relegate. He’s got such a long history in this race that he actually rode his first winner in it, back in 1996. Sometimes he turns up mob-handed for this race,

which doesn’t always end well, but he has won it four times with his only runner in that year’s contest and aims to turn that trick again, with Blue Sari, who won his only start handily. But he’s a four-year-old and only Cue Card has won for that age group in the past 20 years.

Envoi Allen has progressed in three bumpers for Gordon Elliott, while Meticulous, who chased him home last time, is also prominent in the betting. Abracadabras was putting up a fine effort behind Envoi Allen when ducking out through a rail last month. If he can improve on that first run for four months, he could get involved.