Grands Crus is favorite for Argento Chase

Grands Crus, the leading staying novice chaser, is the early favorite for the Argento Chase on Saturday after a potential field of 13 was entered on Monday for the feature race on the last afternoon of action at Cheltenham before the Festival.

Saturday's race is likely to decide whether Grands Crus will even line up against Long Run and Kauto Star, as it will be his first race in open company after just three outings against novices.

Grands Crus' trainer, David Pipe stressed on Monday that he has yet to decide whether the grey will travel to the Cotswolds this weekend, though there could be no better place to assess whether Grands Crus is ready for the toughest test of all.

"We'll decide in the week whether he runs or not, after we've seen how he is and thought about whether we want to run," Pipe said. "I'd expect we'll decide on Wednesday.

"Even if he wins on Saturday, that wouldn't confirm him in the Gold Cup in my eyes. If it was down to me, I'd leave everything until much nearer to the time to be cautious, just like I am with any horse."

The depth of the competition that could line up against Grands Crus is underlined by the Cheltenham Festival William Hill horse betting, which lists four of his possible opponents – Captain Chris, Diamond Harry, Time For Rupert and Midnight Chase.