| Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse Date: Saturday, 28 January Race times: 11:40-16:10 GMT |
| Coverage: Updates on BBC Radio 5 Live |
A midday inspection will be held at Cheltenham on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Festival Trials Day, with parts of the course still frozen.
Officials are hopeful the bumper nine-race meeting will go ahead as planned, but are in talks over a potential contingency of moving back to Sunday.
Frost covers are set to be put down on Friday night, with temperatures potentially dropping to as low as -2C.
Grand National winner Noble Yeats is among the intended runners.
His rivals in the Cotswold Chase are set to include Protektorat, Ahoy Senor and Frodon.
Energumene and Edwardstone have been declared for the Clarence House Chase, which has been switched after last week’s Ascot meeting was abandoned.
Paisley Park will seek a record fourth victory in the Cleeve Hurdle.
The fixture is the last at the racecourse before the four-day Festival in March and will provide pointers to the big meeting.
Noble Yeats, trained by Emmet Mullins, is second favourite for the Gold Cup behind Galopin Des Champs after victories at Aintree and Wexford this season.
Only two horses – Golden Miller and L’Escargot – have won both the Grand National and the Gold Cup.
“I suppose Saturday will show us how good he really is as he will be having a proper race there,” said jockey Sean Bowen, who has taken over from Sam Waley-Cohen who retired immediately after the National triumph in April.
“To be honest he probably does need to take another step forward, but again I think he is capable of that given how he never overdoes things.”
Betfair Chase winner Protektorat, trained by Dan Skelton for owners including former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, was third in last year’s Gold Cup.
Frodon has won six times in 15 races at Cheltenham for Paul Nicholls, while Dusart and Sounds Russian complete the Cotswold Chase line-up.
Energumene and Edwardstone, winners of the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Arkle Chase respectively at last year’s Festival, face off in the Clarence House Chase.
Amarillo Sky, Editeur De Gite, Funambule Sivola and Sizing Pottsie are the other runners.
Paisley Park faces six rivals, including Jeremy Scott’s Dashel Drasher and the Nicholls-trained Gelino Bello, in the Cleeve Hurdle.
Molly Ollys Wishes, Botox Has, Gold Tweet and Lord Accord complete the field.
