TRIPLE champion Best Mate, owned by Callow End's Jim Lewis, is among 40 horses entered for the Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.

All the leading contenders are entered for the big race, which will be run on the final day of the first four-day Cheltenham Festival.

King George VI Chase winner Kicking King is one of five Irish entries, along with Beef Or Salmon, who defeated Best Mate recently on soft ground at Leopardstown.

Horses can still be entered for the races at the supplementary stage five days before at a cost of £17,500.

Triple Gold Cup-winner Best Mate could make 2005 a year to remember with a fourth victory in steeplechasing's blue riband event. Were he to clinch another Festival success, it would be a feat that has not been achieved since 1935.

Best Mate, who will be a ten-year-old on January 25, has a remarkable record, winning 14 of his 21 races, and coming second in the other seven.