Rarely can so many have been counting on Cheltenham's renowned capacity to shed water from its racing surface. Its drains are so effective that unseasonably soft ground in November has undermined the confidence of several trainers ahead of the Paddy Power meeting.

A spate of trainers have issued caveats about their prospects in the feature race on Saturday. Yet one given emerged from the uncertainty yesterday when Nicky Henderson confirmed that Barbers Shop, owned by the Queen, would contest the extended two-and-a-half-mile chase.

Monday's downpour prompted Henderson to include Barbers Shop in his big-race permutations, having originally nominated an alternative race as the gelding's preferred option. Fleet Street, the mount of Andrew Tinkler, will join him, but Jack The Giant will stay at home.

“Jack The Giant has been earmarked for the race for some time,” Henderson said. “I am keen to run him but there wouldn't be much point if the ground is soft.” The decision is complicated by a forecast of intermittent showers at Cheltenham today, where the ground is already on the easy side.

Others who share Henderson's predicament include Peter Bowen and Ferdy Murphy, who plan to saddle Yes Sir and Three Mirrors respectively. “Ideally, Yes Sir would like fast ground,” Bowen said. “It is difficult to weigh up his chances until we see what the weather does.”

Murphy, for his part, is keeping his fingers crossed. “The rain they had at Cheltenham hasn't helped his chances,” the trainer said of Three Mirrors. “Hopefully it will keep on drying out and he can take his chance.”

Murphy won last year's Paddy Power renewal with L'Antartique, who narrowly mastered the Alan King-trained Il Duce. The latter tries again, with King expecting another good run.

“I kept him for the Summer Plate at Market Rasen,” he said, “but that was a total disaster. He got taken off his feet and will be much happier at Cheltenham, where he shows his best form.”

Late Paddy Power decisions are also due on Mister McGoldrick, a course winner who heads the handicap, and Ashley Brook, an emphatic winner at Exeter last week. But whatever the weather, one man happy to be back in the mix is Sam Thomas. After a heavy fall at Chepstow, the Gold Cup-winning jockey puts an idle week behind him when he returns at Taunton today.

Meanwhile, Aidan O'Brien matched his previous best haul of championship races in a season yesterday when Fame And Glory led home his stablemate, Drumbeat, in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. The winner, a son of Montjeu who was ridden by Johnny Murtagh, attracted Derby quotes as short as 14-1.

Fame And Glory's win in the ten-furlong event represented O'Brien's 23rd group one triumph, a total he achieved in 2001. Hong Kong's international meeting next month offers O'Brien his last chance to match the world record of 25 posted by the American trainer, Bobby Frankel.