Taranis still the fancy

TARANIS is holding on to his position as favourite for the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham even though the gamble on Vodka Bleu shows no signs of waning.

The Paul Nicholls-trained five-year-old still heads the market for tomorrow’s feature at a general 7-2. However, support for Vodka Bleu continued on Thursday with Blue Square again cutting the price of the David Pipe-trained runner from 5-1 to 4-1.

The seven-year-old has been laid at a top price of 16-1 with the internet firm. Kate Miller, spokeswoman for Blue Square, said: “This will be one of the ante-post gambles of the last few years if Vodka Bleu can succeed on Saturday.