Stage is set for 'horse of a lifetime' Tiger Roll

Gordon Elliott expects Tiger Roll to take all the beating in the Glenfarclas Chase today as his "horse of a lifetime" prepares to bow out after a bid for a fourth success in the race.

The gelding is a Cheltenham Festival regular having run at the meeting on seven occasions, winning five times including three victories around the cross-country track.

Now a 12-year-old and set for retirement after the race, the dual Grand National winner will bid for one last hurrah in front of a full Cheltenham grandstand that would love nothing more than to see him triumph.

Tiger Roll was last victorious in the same contest 12 months ago and has run three times since, coming home fourth in the Betway Bowl, pulling up in the Many Clouds Chase and finishing 14th in the Navan Handicap Hurdle in January.

Though age may mean the horse is not the force of old, Elliott is still expecting Tiger Roll to set the standard on the final outing of an exalted career.

"We probably don't realise how lucky we are to have a horse like him."

"He hasn't missed too many Cheltenham Festivals, has he?" he said.

"I think he's only missed one. He's a great horse, he's part of the team here and he's been the horse of a lifetime.

"We probably don't realise how lucky we are to have a horse like him.

"He's getting older and if he is what he was in his pomp is probably hard to say, but if he can turn up in 80% of the form he has for the last couple of years, then he'll take all the beating. There's only one place I care about with him and that's Cheltenham.

"To bring a horse like him back year after year, especially him - he's a character, he's a favourite and it was unbelievable (to see him win last year). If he can go back and win this year, it will be brilliant."

Elliott