Paddy Power Gold Cup weights revealed

Grands Crus has been allotted 11st 6lb for the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday, November 17.

Poquelin (11st 12lb) heads the weights for the contest for a third successive year. The Paul Nicholls-trained nine-year-old has won five times at Cheltenham and was second to The Giant Bolster on his latest appearance at the home of Jump Racing in the Grade Three Murphy Group Handicap Chase in January. A total of eight entries from Nicholls also features Cristal Bonus (11st 6lb), who was an easy winner of a Grade Two Chase at Down Royal on November 3, recent Kempton graduation chase scorer Ghizao (10st 13lb), Aerial (11st 4lb) and Grade One winner Al Ferof (11st 8lb). Other notable contenders include the Nicky Henderson-trained pair of course and distance scorer Nadiya De La Vega (10st 8lb) and the 2011 second Quantitativeeasing (11st 4lb), last season's RSA Chase fifth Walkon (10st 6lb) and Jewson Novices' Chase runner-up Champion Court (11st 4lb).