Known as the amateur riders' Gold Cup, the 'Foxhunters' has become a little more predictable for punters of late, especially as professional trainers have secured three of the last five contests.  Luck will no doubt come into play given that this race has a history of runners being brought down or crashing out of the race for one reason or another. But despite the potential problems, two favourites have won this event in the last 10 renewals while a further four have made the frame.

Paul Nicholls has trained the winner twice since 2003, Jonjo O'Neill won with a 20/1 chance two years ago whilst other well known trainers such as David Pipe, Philip Hobbs and Edward O'Grady have also had representatives against the amateur ranks.

Damian Murphy has emerged as a pilot to take seriously, having made the frame in this event in each of the last three years. 

Nicholls is likely to have at a couple of runners in this year's race and Royal Auclair will take plenty of beating, if he is still capable of anything vaguely near the form that saw him finish fourth in the 2005 Gold Cup and second in the Grand National a few weeks afterwards. However, preference could just be for another experienced veteran of top-class racing, Kingscliff, who actually won this contest in 2003 when a young novice point-to-pointer. He has looked a much happier horse in point-to-points of late and could be worth a bet at 12/1 with Sky Bet.