Paul Nicholls has revealed that superstar chaser Denman has had a wind op but remains on course for the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup next month.

The 2008 Gold Cup winner has not been seen since his brave effort when finishing third under top weight in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury and Nicholls has been busy preparing ‘The Tank’ for his trip to the Festival.

The trainer is hoping that Denman can regain his Gold Cup crown after finishing second in the race last year and he explained:  "I revealed Denman had a soft palate operation here last night and the reason why we gave him that was to give him every possible chance of winning at Cheltenham.

"Obviously, there was no disgrace in finishing just over 15 lengths third to Diamond Harry at Newbury, giving that very talented rival 26lb.

"So why did we see fit to give him the operation? Well, in last year's Gold Cup and the Hennessy I didn't think he was finishing the races as well as he could.

"Before Denman first ran in Ireland, he had a hobday operation but he didn't have his soft palate cauterised.

"So we had that done a week after the Hennessy, and I just hope that it will improve him slightly and allow him to finish off his races a little better."

Nicholls also admitted he is thrilled with the form of some of Cheltenham contenders and continued: "We took four of our big Festival guns for a racecourse gallop this morning, and they all fired nicely.

"They all worked over 2m, going a nice steady gallop, then quickening up in the final furlong.

"Denman worked with Big Buck's, and Poquelin worked with Ghizao.  All four went nicely, but it was not a serious gallop. It was just a nice trip out for them.”