Heroes and villains at the Festival

You never know where the heroes and villains might emerge from on Gold Cup day.

A main event minus Best Mate and Kingscliff is up for grabs for any one of half a dozen viable contenders, but Barry Geraghty was his usual ice-cool self aboard Moscow Flyer in yesterday's Champion Chase and can hold the key again with the way he opts to ride Kicking King.

Some people feel Tom Taaffe's gelding could be a suspect stayer, but Geraghty is adamant he will last out and, errors permitting, looks all set for another wonderful Cheltenham ride.

Speaking of errors, the decision to run Astonville in the Gold Cup is extremely hard to justify.

Granted, there have been wins for rank outsiders here in the past, but this ex-French gelding looks completely out of his depth and William Hill could put another zero on the end of their 1000-1 quote and still not do any business.

Kent property tycoon Fergus Wilson owns Astonville and justifies his presence on the basis that he was once a useful chaser in his native France.

Indeed he was. But Astonville has no business in a championship race nowadays and there will be some serious questions asked if he should fall and get in the way of one of the serious contenders.