BOOKMAKERS up and down the land will be counting the cost of some colossal losses if, as expected, Kauto Star (3.15) clinically cuts his rivals down to size in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

All forms of sport rely to some extent on the giants of the game, and Kauto Star's record of five wins from five starts this season puts him in pole position as National Hunt racing's top-dog.

Installed prior to Christmas as hot-favourite for the Blue Riband of chasing, the ready-made cash machine confidently stands on the brink of collecting a £1m bonus.

He could also clean out the major high street layers.

Inclined to make the odd mistake at his fences, non-believers have trashed Kauto Star on the grounds he'll make one error too many, but I just can't see rider Ruby Walsh being dislodged from the saddle on such a big occasion.

"He's undoubtedly the best horse I've ever sat on and never seems to be flat-out, whatever speed the others are going,"explained Walsh.

Kauto Star's mentor, Paul Nicholls, who looks sure to land the jumps trainers' championship for the second successive year, has been equally bullish in the lead up to the Festival.

"He does edge left-handed, but with the help of the inside rail to keep him straight, Kauto Star should be fine. I left him short when he only just won at Newbury last time but he's a lot fitter now," said Nicholls.

Regular readers of this column will recall I recommended taking the 25s on offer about JCB Triumph Hurdle hope, Punjabi (2.00), immediately before he coasted to a runaway Kempton success.

Predictably, Punjabi's price halved in the aftermath of that prodigious performance, which was a perfect prep for today's contest to decide the leading four-year-old of 2006-7.

"We weren't sure about going for the Triumph, but the decision was easy after what happened at Kempton," revealed Punjabi's trainer, Nicky Henderson, who has won the race twice in the past, most recently with Katarino in 1999.

Howard Johnson's Triumph challenger, Degas Art, definitely cannot be ruled out, having won three on the bounce over timber.

Formerly with David Elsworth, the Graham Wylie-owned raider has made the switch to the sticks with effortless ease and seeing as the bookies are paying out on the first four places, Degas Art has got to be worth an each-way shot.

Team Wylie and Johnson are also represented by Coat Of Honour (4.40), who despite shifting steadily up the weights has decent credentials for the Grand Annual Handicap Chase.

A tough little tyke with the heart of a lion, two miles run at furious gallop is just the sort of scenario to bring out the best in Coat Of Honour, a gutsy gelding not given to throwing in the towel when the whips are up.

The earlier three-mile Brit Insurance Novices' Hurdle is an altogether different kettle of fish with the emphasis much more on stamina.

Although the jockeys initially tend to take a sober approach to such stamina-sapping affairs, none in my opinion will be going faster at the finish than Tony McCoy, partnering the certain market leader, Wichita Lineman (2.35).

Despite the song of the same name only making number seven in the charts for Glen Campbell in 1968, Jonjo O'Neill's charge should do one heck of a lot better than that given the way he ruthlessly trounced Sir Jimmy Shand at Newbury.

As ever the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle brings the curtain down on the four-day jamboree of high-class action.

If you've had a bad week then getting out of jail in this fiercely-competitive contest is not exactly what the bank manager ordered. But I can report that a few days ago there was a ton of ante-post money for Ouninpohja (5.20).

A more than useful Pattern standard performer when trained here in the North-East by Alan Swinbank, Ouninpohja hasn't thus far set the world alight since heading to his new Somerset base and facing eight flights of hurdles.

If you take his current form literally then it's hard to make a case for the quirky customer, but I sense a plot was hatched in 2006 to win this race and if on his best behaviour, Ouninpohja possesses the power to take control.