The Martin Pipe-trained eight-year-old has not run since finishing seventh 12 months ago but has been trained with this race as his objective.

“He hasn’t run for exactly a year but when he was beaten in the Gold Cup it could be that his victories in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Hennessy had left their mark,” Johnson said.

“For one reason or another we haven’t been able to run him so far this season but Martin is happy with him and if anyone can successfully bring a horse back from such a lengthy lay-off it’s him.

“We took him to work at Exeter the other day and Martin was very pleased with the way he went. He showed how good he is as a fresh horse in the past and it would mean so much to me if Martin could win this race with one of my horses.”

Connections of Iris’s Gift believe they made the right decision in bypassing the Royal & SunAlliance Chase for a crack at the blue riband with the novice.

The 2004 Stayers’ Hurdle hero has had a less than ideal preparation after falling during a public schooling session and also coming down at Warwick.

But owner Robert Lester is still upbeat about the chances of the Jonjo O’Neill-trained nine-year-old.

“He’s in great form and Jonjo couldn’t be more pleased with him. We must go there with a great chance,” he said.

“The big field shouldn’t be a problem. He’ll probably be up there with the pace and I bet AP (McCoy) has got a plan in his head. I know that Jonjo and AP wouldn’t swap him for anything else in the race.

“We just need every bit of luck of luck in the world we can get and I’m sure Iris (Lester’s late mother) will be looking down on us.

“We could do with a drop of rain but there’s nothing you can do about that. As long as the ground is safe and I’m sure it will be, we’ll have no excuses on that front.

“I said all along we weren’t going to go for the SunAlliance Chase and I’m glad we didn’t. It was carnage in that race.”

Despite reigning champion Kicking King missing the race, the form is represented by last year’s runner-up Take The Stand, and he is another who has had a less than ideal preparation.

But Peter Bowen, the 10-year-old’s trainer is convinced he is primed for another big run.

“This race has been his big target ever since he finished second to Kicking King last year and we don’t have him to worry about this time,” the trainer said.

“He’s a better horse in the spring and I was a bit worried when it rained earlier in the week but it looks like the ground will be fine for him.

“He was an early casualty at Lingfield which I think might end up being a blessing in disguise as it was horrible ground and he just had a nice spin round there without his jockey.”

Philip Hobbs is doubly represented but is still finding it hard to come to terms with the fact his former useful handicapper Monkerhostin is going into the race as second favourite.

Hobbs also has 2003 SunAlliance Chase winner One Knight in the race.

“If you’d told me Monkerhostin would be nearly favourite for this at the start of the season I’d have thought you were mad but there’s no question he put up a staying performance in the King George and I felt he might well have won in another couple of strides,” he said.

“We know how much he likes Cheltenham and Richard (Johnson) was always keen to ride him. Everything has gone well in his preparation, the ground will be fine for him and I will leave it to the horse to do the talking.

“One Knight was getting the worst of the argument when he fell at the last in the Welsh National but would have been a creditable second, while at Wincanton last time he touched the top of the fence and gravity took over for Richard.

“He then galloped loose and sustained some nasty cuts high up on his shoulder when he tried to jump the paddock rail. Luckily they were superficial and have not interrupted his training schedule.

“On his day he is a very good horse as he showed when winning the Sun Alliance Chase at Cheltenham.”

Paul Nicholls will be hoping for better luck after the well-fancied Kauto Star took an early tumble in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

He runs both Cornish Rebel and Royal Auclair, who both finished second in the Scottish and Aintree Grand National’s respectively.

“After his run in the Welsh National where the ground was too tacky we decided to give him a break as he’s always best fresh and is essentially a spring horse,” Nicholls said of Cornish Rebel.

“I’ve saved what I hope will be my trump card, a pair of blinkers, until now. They worked a treat with See More Business when he won the Gold Cup and I’m hoping history will repeat itself.

“He worked well in them the other day and I just hope they don’t light him up too much in the preliminaries.

“Royal Auclair got to the front a little sooner than ideal when he finished second at Wincanton last time.

“He also comes good at this time of year and although his big target is the Grand National in which he ran so well last season on his day he’s capable of mixing it with the best of these and I don’t think he’ll be too far away.”

The French challenge, as in so many years in the past, is headed by a Francois Doumen runner in L’Ami, who was an honourable runner-up behind Trabolgan in the Hennessy earlier in the season.

Doumen knows what it is like to win the biggest prize in steeplechasing as he saddled The Fellow to victory in 1994.

“He has run several good races in defeat this season including the Hennessy and the King George and I was delighted with the way he ran in the Racing Post Chase,” he said.

“It’s hard to compare him with my other runners in the race and I’m not saying he’s as good as The Fellow but he travels well in a truly run race as it should be tomorrow and Mick Fitzgerald can look forward to a good ride on him.”