Racing: Justified will bid for his second Grade One win when tackling three miles for just the second time in Saturday's James Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase.
Trained in Ireland by Dusty Sheehy, the eight-year-old enjoyed his finest hour when beating In Compliance in the Powers Gold Cup back in 2006.
Despite not adding to that triumph in five subsequent Grade One attemptst, Justified has picked up a further two wins and reappeared with an impressive success over two and a half miles earlier in the month.
"We were very happy with the way he came back at Gowran and he seems right this year. Touch wood, he'll stay right and he jumped super that day," explained Sheehy.
"The ground is supposed to be good, perfect jumping ground at the moment, and there are a few light showers forecast so if they appear the ground will be no problem.
"It's three miles and we tested him last year in the race but he wasn't really right then — if you're not in you can't win."
Justified was partnered by Paul Carberry when finishing third behind Beef Or Salmon in last year's renewal, but Ruby Walsh, Tony McCoy and Conor O'Dwyer have all taken the reins in subsequent starts.
Looking ahead to this weekend's feature event at Down Royal, Sheehy added: "I will hopefully have a jockey confirmed soon and there are two that we are looking at.
"Ruby isn't available because Taranis is going to run and Tony McCoy is going to be committed in England.
"I just need to have a chat with the owners about it because we'd like to keep someone who might be able to stay with the horse this year, rather than swapping and changing about again."
Sheehy is keen not to commit his charge to other races until seeing how he goes, but admits there would be more options open to his stable star if he could prove his stamina at the trip.
"This race is the plan and if it goes according to plan it will give us other avenues, with races like the King George and the Lexus at Leopardstown there," he concluded.