Only a third of the entries were confirmed for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown Park on Saturday.
The highlight of the final day of the National Hunt season was, however, boosted by the possible presence of three absentees from last Saturday's Scottish Grand National due to the unseasonably testing conditions.
Showers at Ayr on Friday led to the withdrawals of Road To Home, Montregard and Ask Brewster (among others) and all three remain in contention for the three mile five furlong handicap chase this weekend.
Gary and Josh Moore are no strangers to success at the Esher track and they are responsible for ante-post favourite Havaila who has won his last two starts, including the Sussex National.
In D'Or, whose chance was highlighted by Matt Brocklebank in Handicap Hints, is 5/1 second favourite with Paddy Power, alongside the aforementioned Montregard while last year's winner Resplendent Grey is another notable contender.
Elsewhere on the card, the ever popular Jonbon is in line to return to one of his favoured venues for the bet365 Celebration Chase.
Jonbon was denied a hat-trick in the Grade 1 12 months ago by Il Etait Temps but that performance looks better now than it did at the time and he has been installed as the early favourite from Thistle Ask, the monstrously progressive chaser trained by Dan Skelton.
Solness went down on his sword at Aintree but could make a relatively quick reappearance with the potential line-up rounded out by Brookie, Mirabad and another pair of popular old-stagers in Edwardstone and JPR One.
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