Just having the horse back on the racecourse is more than most could have dared hope for but where his Cheltenham Gold Cup hopes are concerned, today is D-Day for Nick Dundee.
A clear round will be the bare minimum required although after his fifth fence crash in the Hennessy some impressive spring-heeled jumping will be looked for too. But realistically Nick Dundee will have to win well to maintain his current 12 to 1 odds for the Gold Cup.
Against that Gowran's Red Mills Trial looks the ideal opportunity for the Edward O'Grady-trained runner to get his festival preparations back on track. Three miles and three decent if not top-class opponents to get his tubes open over a testing track. Excuses could sound very hollow afterwards.
But they're unlikely to be needed. The veteran double Thyestes winner Bob Treacy and last year's Trial winner Micko's Dream have little aspirations towards being Gold Cup class and quirky is a kind word to describe some of To Your Honour's personality traits.
Nick Dundee, after three comeback starts, is getting more race hardy all the time and O'Grady admits that today's race will leave the nine-year-old "pretty right" for Cheltenham.
The trainer added: "It's a bloody good race and three miles around Gowran won't just be a gallop but I expect a very good performance."
Thousands are likely to flock to the Co Kilkenny track hoping for and expecting the same thing.
The Hurdle Trial has a £10,000 more in the pot but in the circumstances is likely to be overshadowed. Nevertheless, a number of Smurfit Champion Hurdle outsiders are putting the finishing touches to their bids.
The luckless Youlneverwalkalone and the AIG runner-up Mantles Prince are both 20 to 1 for the championship and face a cross-section of opposition that includes the four-year-old Goldstreet and the Gold Cup veteran Dorans Pride.
Youlneverwalkalone is the highest rated in the race but has to concede 6lb to Mantles Prince who is now committed to the Champion Hurdle. Pat Hughes won this race with Barrow Line 15 years ago and Mantles Prince is taken to arrive at Cheltenham with a win under his belt.
There may have been only 13 ever runnings of Navan's £40,000 McCabe Boyne Hurdle but it boasts a mightily impressive roll of honour and Limestone Lad can again use it tomorrow to advertise his Cheltenham chance.
James Bowe's remarkable nine-year-old is a general 4 to 1 favourite to go one better than last year in the Stayers' Hurdle and is going for a second successive win in the Boyne Hurdle.
Only Trapper John has managed that before and along with Galmoy (1988) and Dorans Pride (1995) he used this three-mile contest as the ideal Irish warm-up before lifting the Stayers' crown. In fact it's so ideal that the 1993 runner-up Shuil Ar Aghaidh went one better at the festival.
Limestone Lad is well able to rank with most on the winners list and despite having to give weight away to all bar Boss Doyle and probably being understandably short of peak fitness just yet it will be a major surprise if he doesn't build again on his Naas defeat of Slaney Native last time.
Apart from Limestone Lad there aren't too many other obvious Cheltenham contenders on show tomorrow. Malabar reportedly has the National Hunt Chase as an option at the festival and goes in the novice chase but this should really allow Arctic Copper further advertise Sackville's claims to the SunAlliance.
The Supporters Hurdle features a number of useful juvenile hurdlers but whether one of them will emerge as a genuine Triumph Hurdle candidate is open to qestion.
Golden Storm looked such a candidate back in the Autumn but has since proved disappointing and expensive to boot. He was 1 to 2 when run out of it at Cork and favourite also when tailed off behind Pittsburgh Phil at Christmas.
Ranged against him tomorrow are the admirable Environment and the French import Fruit Defendu but maybe Golden Storm can start repaying his loyal support now.
The bumper appears to basically come down to whether Willie Mullins has got it right regarding the potential of some of his unraced Weatherbys Champion Bumper types. Mullins is rarely wrong on such things, practically never wrong when it comes to the Cheltehnham bumper, and if he says Hedgehunter is up to par then opposition should be futile.
