Il Ridoto amongst 16 confirmed for Saturday's Paddy Power

Last year’s winner Il Ridoto is among 16 horses confirmed for the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday.

The eight-year-old provided trainer Paul Nicholls with back-to-back wins in the prestigious handicap, having struck gold with Stage Star the previous season, and he is the 4-1 favourite with the sponsors to become the first horse to successfully defend his crown since Bradbury Star in the 1990s after finishing second on his seasonal reappearance at Chepstow last month.

Vincenzo will also be out to extend trainer Sam Thomas’ excellent recent form.

The seven-year-old turned his attentions to chasing last season with a fair degree of success, winning at Windsor and Sandown and ending the term with a second in the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury.

He begins his campaign this time in the first major handicap of the season, and his trainer reports him to be in pleasing form ahead of his seasonal reappearance.

“Touch wood he’s in a good place I think, I’m really happy with him. He’s due to run on Saturday,” said Thomas.

“He put in some great races last season and I’d rather find out where we are in a top race than an ordinary race.

“If he wins or runs well, we have those two-and-a-half mile (races) at Cheltenham every meeting near enough, so that would be the obvious thing to do with him.

“Hopefully he could end up being a three-miler in time as well, with the way he looked at Newbury.”

Jagwar is a major contender for the training partnership of Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero. He carried the colours of JP McManus to two victories at Cheltenham last season, including success in the Festival Plate, and he has had this race as his comeback target for some time.

Title-chasing Dan Skelton has three potential runners in Panic Attack, Riskintheground and Hoe Joly Smoke.

This year’s Paddy Power Gold Cup is being run in memory of the late Edward O’Grady, who saddled the last Irish-trained winner in Tranquil Sea (2009), and the raiding party look to have a strong hand with Gavin Cromwell, Henry de Bromhead and Paul Nolan all represented.

Cromwell could saddle both Thecompanysergeant and The Other Mozzie, Coming Up Easy and Theatre Native are De Bromhead’s duo and Nolan has left in Conyers Hill.

Matata (Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies), Bad (Ben Pauling), Es Perfecto (Alan King), Hunter Legend (Venetia Williams) and Issar d’Airy (Gary and Josh Moore) complete the potential field.