2016 Betfair Chase Betting Preview PT 2

Coneygree looks to be the most competitive challenger in the mix here and it's going to be interesting to see how the market actually works on the day since there is every chance he may wind up going off as the betting favourite here. You'll find him backed as low as a 2/1 margin with several top bookmakers and looming large as he seeks his sixth score on the bounce.

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The 2015 Gold Cup winner was put on the shelf following his seasonal debut last year and wound up taking the entire year off – only to reemerge here looking to make a major impression in a big Grade 1 contest.

You have to admire the fact that connections think that he's in absolutely rollicking form despite being off for over a year and they are entering this one without a genuine prep race. It's worth remembering that in his seasonal debut last year he was able to triumph by a massive 25 lengths and that was coming in off a seven month layoff.

Ultimately, he will only have had one run since his Gold Cup triumph over 20 months ago. Whether or not you think he can pull this off against Grade 1 competition is one thing, but there appears to be a large portion of the betting public out there who believe so.

Other notables in the race include Silviniaco Conti, who has still never actually won the Gold Cup despite seemingly having contested it since 2010. He was only able to muster up a second place finish in the Grade 1 JNWine Champion Chase to kick off this season and he was pulled up in last year's Grand National.

He hasn't quite been the all-star we saw back in 2013 or so but hopefully he can get things back on track this year and could emerge as one of the key stars in Paul Nicholls' stable once again.