Denman

Gold Cup:
11/10 Kauto Star
7/4 Denman
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Paul Barber, joint-owner of Denman, believes the horse has nothing to gain and everything to lose in Saturday's Aon Chase at Newbury.

The eight-year-old will be using the three-mile event as a warm-up for next month's Cheltenham Gold Cup, for which he is second favourite behind stablemate Kauto Star.

And Barber is well aware that anything other than victory at Newbury will be a major disappointment for a horse that has won 12 of his 13 career starts.

"We've got nothing to gain tomorrow really but I've been in racing long enough to realise that a 1000 things can go wrong so let's hope that it all goes right and that he is good enough," Barber said on Friday.

"I don't think Paul really expected him to win the Hennessy the way he did on his first run but he looked the part there, and in the SunAlliance last season.

"But he looked the part far more than anybody gave him credit for in the Lexus.

"Sam (Thomas) rides him tomorrow and the idea always was whoever was going to ride him in the Gold Cup would ride him tomorrow - but we've got to get through tomorrow first."

Denman faces just three opponents on Saturday - Celestial Gold, Ollie Magern and Regal Heights.