TOP staying chasers Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow will meet for the fourth time in Saturday's Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown.

The pair are among just four declarations for the race, which highlights day one of the Dublin Racing Festival. The other two runners are Conflated and I Am Maximus, both Grade 1 winners themselves.

Galopin Des Champs, last year's Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and so impressive over the Irish Gold Cup course and distance at Christmas, is the warm favourite for Saturday's rematch, even though Fastorslow has beaten him on the last two occasions they have met.

Saturday's supporting card includes the Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase, in which Cheltenham favourite Marine Nationale will face five rivals. Willie Mullins runs three (Facile Vega, Il Etait Temps and Sharjah) but not Gaelic Warrior. Gordon Elliott's Found A Fifty, a Grade 1 winner over the Arkle course and distance at Christmas, is another leading contender.

The undefeated A Dream To Share reappears in the Donohue Future Stars Bumper. Winner of this race last season, A Dream To Share went on to win Grade 1 bumpers at the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals. The J.P. McManus-owned youngster was expected to be sent hurdling this season but a training setback in the autumn has prompted connections to decide to go for one more bumper and leave hurdling until next season.

Willie Mullins will be expected to supply the winner of the opening two Grade 1 races. The champion trainer saddles four of the six runners in the opening Nathaniel Lacy Solicitors Novice Hurdle and six of the 11 runners in the McCann Fitzgerald Spring Juvenile Hurdle.

On Thursday morning, the chase track was described as yielding to soft and the hurdles/bumper track was soft. The forecast is for mainly dry conditions in the coming days.

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