Nicholls wary over Buck's

Paul Nicholls is hoping inexperience will not hamper the chance of ante-post favourite Big Buck's in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup.

The champion trainer believes the six-year-old eventually go all the way to the top, but Saturday will be only his seventh outing over fences in Britain and just the second time he has faced more than seven rivals.

"I think Big Buck's has improved (from last season) and I think he will improve," he said. "If he jumps really well and travels well on the heels of the leaders or somewhere near turning in, then I think he'll have a massive chance.

"You don't want any hard-luck stories or anything going wrong, which makes me a little bit nervous with Big Buck's, because I need him jumping well.

"If he starts making mistakes and getting a little bit cautious he'll pay the penalty. This is not like a five-runner novices' chase.

"One day I hope he'll be good enough for a Gold Cup but he'll need to run well in this if he is," he added.

Nicholls, who has won the race twice as a jockey and as a trainer, has a particularly strong hand as he also saddles Dear Villez and My Will.

"I also think that Dear Villez will run very well," said the Ditcheat handler. "He won the Munster National earlier this season at Limerick and he will love the ground and is a course winner.

"My Will has gone well fresh in the past, but it would be a big ask."

In-form trainer Nicky Henderson is looking to follow up the success of Trabolgan in the race three years ago with Oedipe.

"I think he has a chance. You wouldn't pay anything for him if you saw him work but, that said, he did go rather well this morning in the fog where he probably didn't know where he was going," said the Seven Barrows trainer.

"This has always been the plan. Obviously there are going to be many people trying very hard to win a race that is part of Newbury's history but all we do is try to get our horses there in one piece."