NICKY Henderson has pinpointed Silviniaco Conti and Last instalment as dangers to Bobs Worth when his star bids to retain his Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup crown next month.
The nine-year-old, who is unbeaten in five visits to Prestbury Park, left behind a very disappointing reappearance in the Betfair Chase by collecting the Lexus Chase over Christmas.
The nine-year-old is set to be joined by a high-class quintet of stablemates at Newbury on Sunday as he builds towards the defence of his crown. It is one of Henderson's traditions to take a handful of Festival contenders to his local course, and the exercise is likely to take place near dawn with his jockey Barry Geraghty required for racing at Leopardstown later that afternoon. "Bobs Worth will go to Newbury on Sunday with Captain Cutter, Triolo D'Alene, Royal Boy, Ma Filleule and i'm toying with Vaniteux," said Henderson. "The Gold Cup is very open. By and large it's the same faces, although the horse who won the other day (Last instalment) is interesting and beat First Lieutenant by further than we did. "Silviniaco Conti is the obvious horse. He would have been close if he hadn't fallen last year. With the irish, i think we know where we are with them. "Yes, Silviniaco Conti beat us at Haydock, but we're better than that. "You know if [Bobs Worth] is in contention as they run to the second-last, there's a good chance he'll finish his race off."