Minella Cocooner can likely seal a dream season for Willie Mullins with victory in the bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Sandown.
The Closutton handler has enjoyed another epic campaign, with Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs, Champion Hurdle hero State Man and Grand National victor I Am Maximus among those to have put him on the verge of a first British trainers' championship.
He would become the first Irish winner of the UK jump trainer's title since Vincent O'Brien in 1954.
The £95,659 first prize on offer in this contest would almost certainly complete the feat and while Mullins mounts a three-strong assault, it is Irish National third Minella Cocooner who makes most appeal.
Minella Cocooner was a Grade One winner over hurdles and has had a mixed season after switching to fences, registering his sole win at Navan in January before posting his best effort so far when beaten four lengths at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday.
Heavy ground was not in his favour that day, when saddled with top weight, and conditions should be more to his liking in Esher, with the excellent Danny Mullins retaining the ride.
El Fabiolo is the Mullins representative in the Grade One bet365 Celebration Chase, but Jonbon is fancied to exact revenge for his Cheltenham Festival defeat last year.
Jonbon came out on top when the pair met over hurdles, while El Fabiolo was too good in last season's Arkle but this year's planned Cheltenham showdown did not pan out, with Jonbon missing the meeting entirely, while a terrible jumping error in the Champion Chase led to El Fabiolo being pulled up.
The Nicky Henderson-trained Jonbon (pictured above) bounced back to form when stepped up to two and a half miles in the Melling Chase, putting behind him a shock defeat at Cheltenham in January with a solid round of jumping and plenty of determination in the finish.
Dropping back to two miles here, Jonbon can thrive on quicker ground.
Langer Dan and Impaire Et Passe are another duo to renew rivalries, having finished third and first respectively in a thrilling finish to the Aintree Hurdle.
Just a short neck separated the pair, with Bob Olinger in the middle, but Langer Dan was unfortunate in that he was the meat in the sandwich between the two Irish runners, with the interference likely costing him more than the margin of defeat.
Dan Skelton's charge will be getting 2lb from Impaire Et Passe this time, which gives him every chance of reversing the form in the bet365 Select Hurdle.
The Real Whacker has endured a slightly lacklustre campaign but can sign off on a high in the bet365 Oaksey Chase.
Winner of the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase last term, The Real Whacker finished fourth in the King George and second in the Cotswold Chase before being pulled up in the Gold Cup, when the testing ground was a negative.
Trainer Patrick Neville is eager to return to a sounder surface and dropping back to an extended two miles and six furlongs can see him back on winning form.
Shagpyle starts the season on a competitive mark of 82 in the Five Rise Contractors And Bentley Drains EBF Premier Fillies' Handicap at Doncaster, while Thunder Roar contests the Madri Excepcional King Richard III Cup Handicap at Leicester after a fine second in the Spring Mile on Town Moor last month.
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