With 11 runners assembled for this year's renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Matt Chapman and Paddy Brennan sat down for a special Unbridled preview of the Prestbury Park showpiece.
With Galopin Des Champs a non-runner, Gaelic Warrior has ascended to the summit of the market for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend.
In the mix for the British team are the Harry Redknapp-owned King George winner The Jukebox Man, Nicky Henderson's Jango Baie and Welsh hopeful Haiti Couleurs.
Despite a disappointing campaign to date, last year's winner Inothewayurthinkin is back to defend his crown, lining up alongside the likes of Grey Dawning, Spillane's Tower and Cheltenham veteran Envoi Allen.
Paddy Brennan: "I can't see it. We've seen lots of Envoi Allen in the build-up and it's been brilliant footage. He looks amazing and has been to Cheltenham for so many years now that he's a part of the furniture. If he won he'd lift the roof, but I just can't see it."
Matt Chapman: "He's a 10-time Grade 1 winner, but he's a 12-year-old. Envoi Allen is not going to win the Gold Cup."
PB: "This is another horse I haven't given much consideration too, to be honest. We were lucky enough to have Jamie Codd on Unbridled and he was his pick at a big-price for the week, which gives him some hope. I can't see it, he's not one for me."
MC: "He was fourth in the Irish Gold Cup but I just don't think he stays."
PB: "Willie Mullins' week has gone from strength to strength and the longer the week goes on, the more you would give him a chance. To win a Gold Cup you need to do so many things right. You need to jump, settle and stay strong - I just question a few of those things with Gaelic Warrior. OK, it will be all about pace - but there is pace. I'll be very surprised if we don't get an end-to-end gallop and I'm not sure he wins the Gold Cup."
MC: "He's an interesting animal because he makes the running sometimes but remember at Aintree when Patrick Mullins held him up and he came through late? Tactically you're not absolutely sure and I'm not totally convinced he likes going left-handed. I think he's better right handed and I'm very suspect on his stamina."
PB: "No!"
MC: "He's a former Cleeve Hurdle winner who stays well, but he's rated about 30lbs too low. No chance!"
PB: "He's a beautiful grey horse who has been a hell of a servant, but I just don't think he can win a Gold Cup. I don't think he's good enough. Even if it did rain, it's a big, big ask."
MC: "I prefer him in mud. I've just got this vision of him when he was a young hurdler winning at Warwick in bottomless mud. I think he likes mud. It could rain but I don't think it's going to lash it down. I can't completely dismiss him because I do think he's a very good horse."
PB: "This is a race where you can throw a lot of the ratings out of the window. This is a race of toughness, you need to stay. He ticks most boxes for me. Any rain will only help him - I think he wins. He's my pick of the race."
MC: "I love Haiti Couleurs. I've followed him since he ran at Chepstow very early on when I was reporting at the track for Your Site Racing. I don't think he quite has the class to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup, I just don't think it's going to pan out right for him."
PB: "He's a great horse, a good winner last year. Everything this season has gone wrong but as we saw in the Champion Chase, you can fall last time out and come back to your very best. He's not completely ruled out."
MC: "I'm coming round to him. As we've just discussed, rain is going to come and I think it will be perfect. He's got a great chance."
PB: "It's definitely not impossible. He goes on most grounds and in the King George he was a little slower at his fences than I was expecting and it almost caught him out. I think he learnt an awful lot that day and obviously Nicky Henderson is having a fantastic week. He can win it."
MC: "This horse was absolutely sensational first time at Ascot this season. He then finished fourth in the King George when he had quite a wide run, arguably finishing best of all off a slow pace. He might relish the distance, even though he's an Arkle winner."
PB: "He's a great horse who has been an unbelievable servant. It was brilliant to see Venetia Williams have a winner this week and Charlie Deutsch is a beautiful rider. He's obviously got an outside chance but can he win? Very unlikely.
MC: "He can't win, he's got absolutely no chance."
NON-RUNNER
PB: "He's done absolutely nothing wrong but I always go back to his Albert Bartlett. That was probably a bad trial for this - he's not my pick of the race but can he win? Absolutely. He needs to stay."
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