Paul Nicholls believes the experience Tony McCoy will get from riding Denman in the Aon Chase will be invaluable.

McCoy gets the leg-up on the 2008 Gold Cup winner for the first time at Newbury on Saturday ahead of their clash with Kauto Star at Cheltenham.

Nicholls said: "It made sense that if AP was going to ride him at Cheltenham that he would ride him beforehand, so that was the obvious thing to do."

Straightforward ride

Paul Nicholls doesn't expect Tony McCoy to have too much trouble when he partners Denman at Newbury on Saturday.

He said: "In a small field it (tactics) will be fairly straightforward - he is dead easy to ride, we'll have a quick chat and Ruby will obviously help him.

"He can be a bit mulish at the start, but that is just him. If the meeting is lost I'd give him a racecourse gallop and AP could sit on him then."

Victor Chandler

Open a Victor Chandler account, bet £50 or more &

we'll give you a £50 Free Bet. Bet less and we'll match it.

Place 5 consecutive real money bets of £10 or more

& we'll give you another £25 Free Bet.

Then place 5 consecutive real money bets of £10 or

more & we'll give you another £25 Free Bet and a

£25 VC Casino Bonus.

When opening acc be sure to quote TELETEXT OFFER

T's & C's available on www.vcbet.co.uk

See C4 p621, ITV p375 or

Call 08000 78 78 78