The Blue Riband race of The Cheltenham Festival is The Betfred Gold Cup at 3.20 on Friday. The 2013 build up appears to have been focussed on taking sides with Sir Des Champs, Bobs Worth, First Lieutenant and Silviniaco Conti v Long Run and Captain Chris. Only Silviniaco Conti from the first team makes real appeal because he is clearly an improving type, who beat Long Run and The Giant Bolster by 2½ lengths and 4½ lengths respectively at level weights in November, then with The Giant Bolster in receipt of 4 pounds, Silviniaco Conti put seven lengths between them at Newbury in February. His jumping is accurate and he definitely has the progressive appeal to win a Gold Cup .

The current favourite Bobs Worth beat Tidal Bay by 3¼ lengths in receipt of 6 pounds in the Hennessy Gold Cup, with First Lieutenant five lengths third in receipt of 1 pound from Bobs Worth. Tidal Bay then stole the Lexus Chase in one of the finishes of the season at level weights with Sir Des Champs and First Lieutenant, which leaves me with the view that Bobs Worth, Sir Des Champs and First Lieutenant are pretty closely matched but not winners of the Gold Cup.

For the second team, Long Run and Captain Chris are seen as having fought out a titanic finish in a sub-standard King George run on heavy ground.  This is all wrong, as Long Run has won a King George twice, a Gold Cup once and he has never finished out the first three in any of his races. Although Silviniaco Conti did beat Long Run in the Betfair Chase, Long Run’s trainer Nicky Henderson said that he would need the run on his seasonal appearance.  Supporting the King George form is Captain Chris, who is a very different horse this season, with Richard Johnson riding him brilliantly and whilst 2.5 miles was too short for him at Ascot last time against a nimble Cue Card he will be patiently ridden at Cheltenham, gradually working his way in to a place at the finish.

Silviniaco Conti makes the most appeal as a potential winner, however my preferred bets are Long Run each way at 6/1 (taken 7/1), which looks one of the safest bets of the week to The Wine Tipster, with  a small each way wager on Captain Chris at 16/1 too.