Seventeen horses stood their ground at the 48-hour declaration stage for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury at the weekend and Stan James make the Paul Nicholls trained Big Bucks the 5/1 favourite to give Paul Nicholls his third winner of the race in the last six years following the successes of other second season chasers Strong Flow in 2003 and Denman in 2007.

Head of PR Charlie McCann: "It looks a fabulous renewal of this most prestigious and valuable handicap and in the last couple of hours we have pushed out Character Building (13/2 from 6s) and Opedipe (8s from 7s) as money has come for Albertas Run (9s from 10s) and more significantly perhaps Slim Pickings (12s from 16s). The Irish don't have a great recent record in the race but last Sunday's Becher Chase suggested that you write off the Irish challenge at your peril. With former Champion Hurdler Sublimity and the enigmatic Harchibald declared for Newcastle's WBX.com Fighting Fifth Hurdle it could be a very big day for the Irish on Saturday. "

Latest Hennessy Gold Cup prices from Stan James: EW 1/4 odds 1,2,3,4: NRNB: 5 Big Bucks, 6 Air Force One, 13/2 (from 6/1) Character Building, 7 Island Flyer, 8/1 Oedipe (from 7s), 9/1 (from 10s) Albertas Run, 12/1 (from 16s) Slim Pickings,  14/1 (from 12s) Dear Villez, 16/1 (from 14s) Snoopy Loopy, 16 Royal County Star, 16 High Chimes, 20 Knowhere, 20/1 (from 25s), Verasi, 40 My Will, 40 Madison Du Berlais, 50 Always Waining, 50/1 (from 66s) Monkerhostin.

WBX.Com Fighting Fifth Hurdle: Newcastle Saturday: NRNB EW 1/5 1,2,3: Punjabi 6/5, Sublimity 7/2, Harchibald 7/2, Blue Bajan 11/2, Arcalis 20/1, Tazbar 20/1 and 33/1 bar.