Nicky Henderson yesterday warned punters that only "a mad man" would write off Kauto Star for his clash with Long Run in today's Betfair Chase (3.05) at Haydock Park today.
Henderson scaled the loftiest peak even of his high-achieving career when Long Run banished the old order with a dashing success under amateur pilot Sam Waley-Cohen in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.
The Seven Barrows six-year-old is as short as 4-6 to begin his new campaign with a fourth top-level victory since his big-money purchase from France - while a flop for Kauto Star could spell the end of the road.
But Henderson said: "You're never going to write off Kauto Star - you'd be a mad man ever to write him off.
"We can all go through bad patches - I suppose Kauto Star is under a little bit of pressure tomorrow - but we can come back from them.
"This can't be described as a prep race - it's a Gold Cup trial in itself.
"Long Run is as near to fitness as I can get him without giving him a run and everything has gone well."
Robert Waley-Cohen, owner of Long Run and father of the horse's jockey, struck a less cautious note, saying : "Kauto Star is the benchmark, but he is getting older, and on the book he has a big gap to make up with Long Run."
That gap, between LONG RUN in first and third-placed Kauto Star at Cheltenham last March, stands at 11 lengths.
And, while Long Run hasn't raced in the interim, Paul Nicholls' Gold Cup hero must bounce back from a failure that saw him pulled up at Punchestown in May.
That performance even raised the spectre of retirement for the greatest chaser of modern times, and Kauto Star looks up against it as he plots revenge on his younger rival.
Weird Al was having his first start for Donald McCain when beating Time For Rupert fair and square in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby three weeks ago, and could emerge as the main danger.
Diamond Harry, a late scratching from that race, makes his return here and is also capable of getting involved.