Coneygree will adopt his usual front-running tactics today in a bid to become the first novice to win the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup in more than four decades.

Nico de Boinville is set to have the exciting eight-year-old, from Mark Bradstock’s Letcombe Bassett stables, near Wantage, at the head of affairs from the start.

Connections made the bold call to bypass Wednesday’s RSA Chase in favour of a crack at chasing’s blue riband following his impressive triumph against seasoned campaigners in the Denman Chase at Newbury.

Captain Christy was the last novice to win the Gold Cup back in 1974.

And since then 20 novices have tried, but none have been successful.

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However, Bradstock’s wife, Sara, has shrugged off any concerns about that statistic.

She said: “The horse doesn’t know what the race is.

“He doesn’t know if it’s the Gold Cup or the RSA, so I think the statistics are meaningless.

“He’s a front-runner and will run his race.

“The only question, and what we have to find out some time, is whether, when push comes to shove, he’s good enough at this level.

“Obviously we would love some rain before the race.

“He’s been working well at home on good ground and I’m sure good ground wouldn’t be a problem, it’s what it would mean for the other horses.”

Meanwhile, Paul Nich-olls retains every faith in Silviniaco Conti as he tries to make it third-time lucky in the Gold Cup.

The nine-year-old fell three fences from home when still travelling well on his first attempt in 2013, while he looked a likely winner jumping the final obstacle in front last year only to finish fourth.

“Something he was not doing last year was finishing his races,” said the champion trainer.

“We found out after he won at Aintree last year he was suffering badly with gastric ulcers and we are on top of that now.”