EVERY race counts for Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, but the most important will unfold in the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Contenders such as Cue Card and Sir Des Champs have dropped away through injury, and Dynaste has been given an alternative target, so the betting suggests it will be a straight shoot-out between Britain's two leading stables.
Bobs Worth did not provide Henderson with his first championship since the mid-1980s single-handedly, but his win in last year's Gold Cup was a big contribution and unless the Grand National heads to Seven Barrows - not impossible - he will depend heavily on the gelding beating Nicholls' Silviniaco Conti.
Henderson needs none of our sympathy heading into
the Festival. He will have runners in most of the showpiece events, and has viable prospects in the novices and many of the handicaps as well as My Tent Or Yours in the Stan James Champion Hurdle.
But big Cheltenham wins largely decide the title, and there are at least two missing from the Henderson team in Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig, while reliable helpers like Riverside Theatre are not quite up to scratch any more.
"This season has not been a disaster," said Henderson. "We've won Hennessys, Christmas Hurdles, I think we have won six Grade Ones and it usually is a good season if we do that.
"Whereas everything just rolled and rolled last season and went right, except for the Betfair Chase as usual. The horses were good, kept injury free and remained healthy. You have got to have all the luck in the world for that to happen. Things did go our way last season, and it was fantastic, but you know it does not last.
"We have got what we have, but we have plenty of horses who have good chances and across the board. Last year we went into the Festival with three favourites for championship races and odds-on ones. There is nothing here which ought to win, but they can win."
Bobs Worth has already made Cheltenham history: when he added the Gold Cup to his RSA Chase and Albert Bartlett titles, he was the first horse in more than 40 years to win three different events at consecutive Festivals.
Henderson has often been asked to compare Bobs Worth and Sprinter Sacre as they are such a contrast in looks and attitude. The former is a plain and unflashy horse more akin to a bank manager standing next to a matinee idol, but he is just as important - and unbeaten in five course starts.
He ran only twice last season and has matched that so far this term, with his trainer chalking a lifeless reappearance in the Betfair Chase down as a one-off blip before he made a grafting return to form in the Lexus over Christmas. So his supporters should not panic about his confinement to the stables so far in 2014.
"He's funny - he's delicate in his own way," said Henderson.
"For a guy who is as tough as he is, he hasn't the constitution of an ox."
Silviniaco Conti and Bobs Worth met twice as novices, but neither performed particularly well in either the Feltham or the Reynoldstown at Ascot, and it was not until the Gold Cup that they saw each other again.
The Nicholls runner does not have the profile to spawn his own range of scarves and merchandise, either. That is not to say he is not a seriously good chaser, but he has assumed the position at the head of the Ditcheat ranks from the retired Kauto Star and Denman, who both had huge fan clubs.
He was a winner of the 2012 Betfair and this season's King George, wearing down Cue Card before the final fence to give Nicholls an eighth victory in the Boxing Day highlight.
The trainer, though, feels last year's Gold Cup is the one that got away, and Silviniaco Conti was certainly looking dangerous when he fell at the third-last fence. Whether he could have coped with Bobs Worth up the final hill is one of those Cheltenham imponderables, and his only way of proving it will be to triumph this time round.
Nicholls said: "I thought he was travelling extremely well in last year's race. I think he was going to finish first or second, but who knows?
"His stamina kicked in when he won the King George, and I think he has a leading chance. He is the right age and has strengthened up. They are all dangers in the race, but Bobs Worth is probably the one to beat - he's unbeaten at Cheltenham."
Can anybody stop another private battle between Nicholls and Henderson? There were impressive recent wins from Last Instalment and Harry Topper, but both prefer soft ground, and it is more likely for conditions to dry as spring kicks in.
So if one, or both of the top two have a mishap or underperform, there is an opening for an outsider to leap into contention.
Neither of the first two in last season's RSA, Lord Windermere and Lyreen Legend, have covered themselves in glory in open company, but their Festival experience should serve them well and their capable Irish trainers will have left something in the tank.
Bobs Worth
Silviniaco Conti
Paul Nicholls (left) and
Nicky Henderson resume their private battle in the
Gold Cup