The Grade One Hennessy Gold Cup, run at Leopardstown on Sunday, has seven home runners none of whom make more than a feint blip on the radar of the market for Cheltenham yet the one who figures most prominently of the three British-trained entries comes to the race with the thinnest record over fences of the 10 runners.

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Ever since stable jockey Ruby Walsh was ruled out for four months with a broken leg a succession of jockeys – headed by 15-times champion Tony McCoy – have come in for the plum rides at the Paul Nicholls yard.

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The five-time champion trainer has saddled 48 runners in the National, his best showing thus far coming with Royal Auclair who finished second to Hedgehunter in 2005, and he has 10 of 102 entries for this year’s renewal, which will be worth a record £950,000.

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The Grade Two Argento Chase at Cheltenham was meant to be the race that ushered Punchestowns into the reckoning for this year’s Gold Cup, with the possibility that the enigmatic Tidal Bay might produce the goods that he has often failed to fully deliver in the past couple of seasons.

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The form book and the official handicapper said that Master Minded had between 15 and 29lbs in hand over his eight rivals in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot. In the final 50 yards he had a length advantage that was diminishing with every stride as Somersby closed, but it had looked so different three-quarters of a mile earlier.

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Paul Nicholls has gone on the offensive to those who have suggested that a below-par spell this month is a sign of problems in his yard. But, while a lack of winners can be nothing too much to worry about in the long run for the champion trainer, strike-rates can still be a useful guide in the short term for backers trying to gauge a yard’s form.

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Then Kauto Star, be it through illness or the onset of anno dominie, was beaten in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park. That in itself was little more than a blip in what bears all the hallmarks of another successful season for the trainer. Except that this month has been unusually quiet by the standards of the man who sets the standards for others who wish to claim his title.

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It was the first time that the 11-year-old has been reported as bleeding after any of his previous 35 races but Nicholls reported the four-times King George winner to be in good shape the morning after and was not holding that as any significant excuse for his 19-length defeat as he attempted a record-breaking fifth victory in the King George.

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