Clive Smith's eight-year-old has a third win in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day on the agenda after which he will be saved for the totesport-sponsored blue riband on March 13.

The eight-year-old took in the Aon Chase en route to the success in the Gold Cup in 2007 while this year he landed the First Commercial Ascot Chase before following home his stablemate at the Festival.

Nicholls said: "He looks fantastic and I think he is as good as ever. He took time to find his form last year. But this year head lad
Clifford Baker has been astonished by the way he has been working.

"If the ground and track are right, then he will start off at Down Royal on November 1 and if he misses that then he will go straight to
the Betfair Chase at Haydock later that month.

"He then has four or five weeks to the King George and we will then keep him fresh and go straight to Cheltenham."

In contrast Denman will have a run in the build-up to the Gold Cup with Nicholls eyeing a repeat win in the Aon Chase at Newbury in February.

The eight-year-old was due to start off in the Hennessy next month. But his schedule had to be rearranged after he was found to be suffering from a fibrillating heart.

Nicholls said of Denman, who is unbeaten in nine starts over fences and is the 11-8 favourite with the sponsors for the Gold Cup: "He was heavy when we brought him back in after the summer and I couldn't put my finger on why he was under performing.

"He was lethargic, not eating and was slow up the hill. We then discovered he had a fibrillating heart and took him to

Newmarket for treatment. He was ill for a week when he came back due to the toxins in the medication."