BOB'S Worth will be looking to win the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday (3pm) for the second time and give Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson his fourth success since 2005.

Now 10 years old, Bob's Star landed this prestigious race in 2012 before going on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup the following March.

After being pulled up at this year's Cheltenham Festival and then finishing down the field at Sandown in April, Bob's Worth returned to winning ways at Aintree earlier this month.

With last season's Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Coneygree having been declared a non-runner on Tuesday, the Paul Nicholls-trained Saphir Du Rheu is set to go off as favourite for this £200,000 chase. Nicholls is also seeking his fourth win in this race.

The six-year-old Saphir Du Rheu won a Grade One novices' chase at Aintree last season and made a winning comeback when comfortably landing a Listed chase by seven lengths from Neil Mulholland's The
Young Master at Carlisle on November 1.

Trainer Mulholland is also set to be represented by The Druids Nephew, who was seventh in this race last year before going on to take a Grade Three handicap chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Colin Tizzard is hoping the likely pace of the race to play into the hands of Theatre Guide. The eight-year-old shaped well on his reappearance when third in a two and a half mile handicap chase at
Wetherby last month.

Theatre Guide was third to Triolo D'Alene in the 2013 Hennessy Gold Cup. Tizzard said: "Theatre Guide will run in the Hennessy all being well. He has done a lot of work since Wetherby. Of all the horses we
have run this season, he definitely needed his first run the most.

"He has been working with Cue Card, although he has not been keeping up with him! He has been placed in the Hennessy before off a higher mark and I think he is a better horse."

Alan King's stable has been in great form this season and he has two possible starters on Saturday in Smad Place and Ned Star.

Other contenders include Houblon Des Obeaux, who was runner-up to Many Clouds in this race last year and also chased home Coneygree in the Betfair Denman Chase at Newbury in February, while If In Doubt disappointed on his final start of last season in the Irish Grand National but triumphed in the Listed Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster.

Four Irish-trained contenders are among the entries. The trio from Willie Mullins' yard are dual Grade One winner Valseur Lido, Ballycasey and Urano, while Mouse Morris has left in First Lieutenant
who finished third to Bobs Worth back in 2012.

In Coneygree's absence, the Hennessy weights rise 9lb meaning none of the remaining entries will be racing from out of the handicap.

In addition to Saphir Du Rheu, three other leading contenders have been cut in the betting. The Philip Hobbs-trained If In Doubt, who finished a close fifth in last season's RSA Chase, is now 8-1 (from
12) with Betway, while Smad Place and Bob's Worth are vying for second favouritism at 6-1 (from 7).

Ladbrokes World Hurdle hero Cole Harden headlines 10 entries for the £45,000 bet365 Long Distance Hurdle over three miles, also on Saturday.

The third race on the card is the Sir Peter O'Sullevan Memorial Handicap Chase. The final commentary of Sir Peter's long and illustrious career was on the Hennessy Gold Cup of 1997, won by Suny Bay.

O'Sullevan commentated on 40 of the first 41 runnings of the great race; the only one he missed was in 1983 when covering the Japan Cup in Tokyo. Incredibly, on that famous day in 1997, Sounds Fyne,
owned by Sir Peter O'Sullevan, won the very next race on the card at Newbury.

The three-day bet365 Festival gets underway at Newbury on Thursday at 12.30. The first race on Friday is at 12.25 and 12.15 on Saturday.

The prize money for all three days totals £663,100.