The 2010 Cheltenham Festival is just over two weeks away and here at Racingbase, we can't wait for Kauto Star vs Denman round three.

With the score currently 2-1 to Kauto Star he is the favourite to win and retain his third Gold Cup in four years, trading at odds of 8/11 with Paddy Power, while Denman is a 7/2 shot with the same firm.

Paddy Power clearly can't envisage anything else getting close to Paul Nicholls' superstar duo with Imperial Commander and Cooldine next in the betting at 12/1 and it looks set to be one of the best Gold Cups for years.

Paddy Power are offering punters a free £50 bet on this year’s Gold Cup, sign up with the Irish firm now.

Paul Nicholls talks about the two arch-rivals as the world’s most prestigious race meeting looms closer:

KAUTO STAR – 8/11 Paddy Power

“ He looks great and is very forward in himself. After Cheltenham last year we decided not to run him again as we didn't need to. He runs very well when he's fresh and fit. When this horse narrowly won the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the improvement he made from that day to the King George was phenomenal. You don't want these horses at their best in their trial races. Denman's two targets were the Hennessy and the Gold Cup and Kauto's two targets were the King George and the Gold Cup. When Ruby Walsh got off at Haydock he said to me 'he needed it' and that's all I wanted to hear. I think his King George win this season was the best he's ever run. He looks fantastic and I am delighted with his progress. He did a nice bit of work this morning with Denman and the others and we're just fine-tuning him now. Ruby came over on Saturday and schooled Kauto, Denman, Big Buck's and Master Minded and we are very happy with where we are with all of them.”

DENMAN – 7/2 Paddy Power

"I wasn't too perturbed about what happened the other day at Newbury. They're not going to win every time. I always think back to two years ago when Kauto Star unseated Sam (Thomas) in the Betfair Chase. It was all doom and gloom but next time he wins the King George pulling a cart. I was very happy with Denman's run the other day, bar the mistake. If he hadn't made that mistake he would've won simple as that. He was in exactly the same place in the Aon as he was in the Hennessy - if he made the same mistake in the Hennessy he wouldn't have won there either. If you'd seen in him his racecourse gallop before the Hennessy you wouldn't have thought he'd be capable of winning an egg-and-spoon race. These sort of days bring him on. Since Newbury he's been tanking along again, he worked great this morning and he'll have three weeks of seriously hard graft now. Anyone who writes him off writes him off at their peril. All this nonsense about whether Tony McCoy should ride him or not is the biggest load of twaddle I've ever heard. He's the champion jockey and was just unlucky the other day."

Kauto Star V Denman - Round Three