Paul Nicholls looks to Silviniaco Conti as he tries to extend his hegemony of the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

While it may not hold the same historical ties as the King George VI Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the three-mile showpiece usually attracts some of the best staying chasers around and is one the Ditcheat handler has dominated.

Since its inception in 2005, Nicholls has pocketed the Grade One contest a remarkable six times - with Kauto Star providing four of those victories.

The dual Gold Cup winner's final victory back in 2011 at the age of 11 provides particularly happy memories for Nicholls.

He said: "That was a big day for everybody. It was an incredible day with people cheering him before, during and after the race. It was just amazing.

"The year after he was out there parading and Silviniaco Conti was winning his first one, so it has been a good race for us."

Nicholls' chances of extending his enviable record this year look more than favourable as defending champion Silviniaco Conti heads the market.

Although he has a long way to go to equal the exploits of his former stablemate, the nine-year-old bids to move a step closer to matching the efforts of the 16-times Grade One winner by taking the £200,000 contest for a third time.

After finishing a staying-on second in his prep run over hurdles at Kempton earlier this month, Nicholls is optimistic he has the dual King George winner cherry-ripe for the weekend.

He said: "He ran very well the other day at Kempton in light of the situation we were in. We had a whole heap of trouble with them (sarcoids, a common type of skin tumour affecting horses) last year.

"Having a girth on him caused trouble and we nearly did not run him in the King George because of a reaction on his chest four days before the race. It is technical - not big stuff - and we treated three sarcoids when he came back in July.

"When he came back in July, we treated those sarcoids, but although the two on the front of his chest had died off, the one underneath his front leg has come back again so it's been a pain.

"He wasn't as far forward as I wanted to run in a Charlie Hall or anything like that, hence the run over hurdles. He has improved enormously for that run.

"He has not missed a beat since Kempton and his stamina will be very important this weekend.

"He is not a morning glory worker at home so you would never know if he was going particularly well.

"We get loads of graft into him to get him fit - Noel (Fehily) got off at Kempton and said he felt as well as ever, which is all I wanted to hear.

"The flat track on soft ground is made for him. He is in really good shape and that run will have done him the world of good.

"Really testing ground is probably ideal for him as all he does is gallop and jump."

The King George is again likely to be on the agenda for Silviniaco Conti, but while Nicholls has not completely ruled out the Cheltenham Festival, the chances of him appearing in a fourth Gold Cup in March appear to be slim.

Should he bypass a trip to Prestbury Park, Aintree could then come into the equation, with the Grand National a possible option in Nicholls' mind.

However, there is a huge 'Chase Triple Crown' bonus up for grabs comprising of the Haydock race, the King George and the Gold Cup.

Nicholls said: "If he did happen to win the Betfair and the King George, which is all a big 'if' this year, you would have to consider the £1million bonus on offer as you don't get that very often and it's a big thing.

"He just lacks a bit of pace around Cheltenham and it just gets him in trouble a little bit. Flat tracks do suit him better.

"If the ground was very testing, you would enter him. I would say to suit him it would have to be very testing just to help slow them down a bit, but never say never as he might prove he is in the form of his life over fences this year, you just don't know.

"Up to now he has been very unlucky at Cheltenham. Last year it just proved to us it probably isn't ideal.

"Two years ago he looked like being the winner when he came down at the third-last. You can't say he doesn't necessarily act there, but it does look on his profile that flat tracks suit him better.

"I'd love to run him in the Grand National one day. He is not unlike Neptune Collonges. He stays forever and has probably got a bit more class than Neptune.

"He will have an entry this year but whether we run, we will see. Our two targets this year have always been the Betfair and the King George."

"Some of his best form is in heavy ground. He'll float on top of heavy ground no worries at all." - Trainer Colin Tizzard on Cue Card 

Colin Tizzard's stable star Cue Card is out to regain the prize he won in 2013, a year during which he also landed the Ascot Chase and the Ryanair Chase as well as filling the runner-up spot behind Silviniaco Conti in the King George.

He endured a torrid time after returning from injury last season, but looked right back to his best after a wind operation when dominating last month's Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

"He came out of Wetherby absolutely fine. Joe (Tizzard) thinks he's improved. We think he's better than he was at Wetherby," said Tizzard.

"At Wetherby he was getting the allowances and Silviniaco Conti and the rest are going to be hard to beat, but he's back nearly to where he ever was.

"He's a happy horse and when we worked him earlier in the week, he came up the gallop with his head in his chest and roaring away."

The prospect of testing conditions holds no fears for the Dorset-based trainer.

He told At The Races: "He wants to do it and now he can breathe again properly, I'm sure he'll do it again.

"Some of his best form is in heavy ground. He'll float on top of heavy ground no worries at all.

"I think in these championship races, they'll take it in turns winning. With a horse it's got to be on the day.

"If we get beat it's not the end of the world. We've got no right to win them all and on the day, one bad jump can put paid to any horse."

Tom Scudamore admits he found it difficult to choose between David Pipe-trained duo Dynaste and Ballynagour, eventually siding with the former, who has been placed in this race for the last two years.

There was little to choose between the pair when second and third behind Cue Card in West Yorkshire three weeks ago.

Conor O'Farrell rides Ballynagour this weekend.

"It was a very difficult choice, they are both top-class horses and they have been great friends to me over the years," Scudamore told Racing UK.

"I've had a lot of very good days on them. Ballynagour winning in France was probably one of the best days I've had racing, so it was a very difficult choice. But at the end of the day you're not in it for emotions, you want to win these races and I just felt Dynaste shaded it.

"But there's very little in it, I was as sleepless as I get thinking about it.

"In the end I plumped for Dynaste, he's run so well there before, been second and third, he's a Grade One winner and a top-class horse. So are all the other ones, but I felt he probably just shaded it.

 The field is completed by Jonjo O'Neill's Holywell, who was fourth in last season's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

He needs to raise his game significantly after finishing fifth in the Charlie Hall, though.

O'Neill said: "Holywell is fine and there is not a bother on him.

"I thought Wetherby was OK for a first run of the season, although obviously it wasn't as good as we would have liked it to be.

"The ground at Haydock is soft at the moment and that should be OK - he has won on similar ground before."