Denman's finest hour came at the Cheltenham Festival in March

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman has successfully come through his first major schooling session of the season.

The Paul Nicholls-trained star has been off the course since undergoing treatment for an irregular heartbeat last summer.

But on Wednesday he was reunited with jockey Ruby Walsh who partnered him in an intense workout.

"He did everything right," Nicholls told the Daily Mail. "It's part of his training and quite hard work."

The nine-year-old, who is still the favourite to repeat his Gold Cup success in March, is set to make his return to the racecourse in the Aon Chase at Newbury on 7 February.

Nicholls added: "I wanted to see if we could get him tired, which we didn't.

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"He was absolutely perfect, I was pleased with him and Ruby was pleased with him. We couldn't have been happier.

"Now we are all set for Newbury. That will be the acid test. We are happy with him at home, but he has got to perform on the track.

"He is getting close to a run, [but] I wouldn't lose an enormous amount of sleep if I didn't run him before Cheltenham."

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