Paul Nicholls is adamant punters shouldn’t write off Denman despite now being as big as 7-2 with Ladbrokes for the Gold Cup after his dramatic defeat in the Aon Chase at Newbury on Saturday.
Denman having virtually walked through the fourth last, made another mistake unseating Tony McCoy at the next fence leaving Grand National hopeful stablemate Tricky Trickster to catch Niche Market on the run in to land the spoils.
The champion trainer said: "I was happy with him until the fourth last. He landed awkwardly, went left and that was the race over.”
"Mentally and physically he' still a month away from how he was for the Hennessy, and you've got to remember, that was a trial for Cheltenham. If he'd jumped the fourth last I think he would have gone on and won the race."
He added: "I spoke to Tony this morning and he did absolutely nothing wrong. it could have happened to anybody and he'll ride at Cheltenham."
Nicholls also saw Champion Chase favourite Master Minded bounce back to form at Newbury despite having to survive a shocking mistake at the last fence.
Master Minded is now as short as 4-6 (from 6-4 with William Hill) to land a third Champion Chase success and his trainer is sure there is more to come from the seven-year-old.
"That was grand. It's really good to get him back like that, but he needed to come back. He was much more like the horse of old, tanking along.”
"Ruby blamed himself at the last otherwise, he jumped really well and can only improve," added Nicholls.
After a big weekend of racing, follow this link to Ladbrokes to check all the latest market moves and prices for this year’s Cheltenham festival.