It is exceedingly tough to oppose Long Run in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

Those who take the short odds about him landing the first major jumps prize of the British season will not make their millions overnight.

But, in this instance, logic should not be shrouded by the appeal of seeking value elsewhere.

Long Run, the 2011 Gold Cup winner, is comfortably the best horse in the line-up.

And in a race in which experience and class are often precursors to success, Nicky Henderson’s inmate should rise to the occasion.

Although Silviniaco Conti won the Charlie Hall last year, second-season chasers have a quite awful record in the Grade Two.

If history is anything to go by, that rules out a clutch of potentially impressive rivals.

Long Run, conversely, has consistently been there and done it during an outstanding career.

Even so, the eight-year-old has not really been given the credit he has deserved for never finishing out of the first three since his move from France.

Big-race wins in races like the Feltham, the Gold Cup and the King George (twice) are often surreptitiously airbrushed from history by critics seemingly desperate for him to lose.

Much of the negativity is perhaps down to the riding style of amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, whose father, Robert, owns the horse.

Waley-Cohen jnr is not as accomplished as virtually all of his weighing-room counterparts, but punters who invest in Long Run know the risks and should not complain.

As for Long Run, it is also fair comment to suggest he is now susceptible to a star-studded animal.

But there is surely nothing of bona fide brilliance in the Charlie Hall which will have kept Henderson and the Waley-Cohens up at night.

Such has been his longevity, it is a little surprising that Long Run is still only eight years of age and therefore somewhere near his peak.

Moreover, his jumping guile and hardy constitution should mesh nicely with the demands of the circuit.

Long Run may have been defeated on his first start of the season in the last three years, but reports from Seven Barrows would indicate that he is a lot fitter.

This is also a lot easier than when he faced mammoth first-time-up assignments in the Betfair Chase at Haydock (twice) and in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.