Naas preview:Numbersixvalverde may be the focus of Martin Brassil's eye at Fairyhouse today but tomorrow at Naas there will be no doubt the Co Kildare trainer will be closely watching his other stable star, Nickname.
For a horse that is far from certain even to run in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase, Nickname continues to be rated as low as 5 to 1 for the Cheltenham feature despite Brassil asserting that his ex-French mudlark must have a minimum of "soft" going to even run at the festival.
Understandably, Brassil has decided on a policy of making hay while the sun doesn't shine this winter and Nickname has done him proud, being beaten just once, and mopping up a series of valuable two-mile pots.
The latest of them is the Paddy Power Newlands Chase which should turn out to be another easy assignment for the long odds-on favourite.
He gets his favoured testing conditions and although it will be interesting to see how the novice Gemini Lucy does against him, she is coming back from a three-month break and has certainly not come up against a customer as tough as Nickname before.
Schindlers Hunt is already a double Grade One winner this season and with no Arkle entry at Cheltenham to worry about, Dessie Hughes' horse can step up from two miles to land the Anglo Irish Bank Nas Na Riogh Chase.
The race's other Grade One winner, Mister Top Notch, also misses out on Cheltenham and will relish any improvement in the ground while the ex-French Ambobo is an interesting chasing newcomer. But Schindlers Hunt is rated by Hughes and may get even better at the longer trip.
Kazal looks a major contender for the Brit Insurance Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham and tops the weights in tomorrow's Johnstown Hurdle where he faces a tough festival warm-up.
Kazal especially has to concede a massive 19lb to the sole four-year-old in the race, Jack Absolute, and the latter's trainer, John Murphy, proved with Newmill last weekend that he is very much alive to the advantage of a significant weight concession.
Jack Absolute broke his maiden over flights at Limerick when fighting back resolutely to beat Disclosure last month, after which Murphy praised the horse's toughness. He has a very tough task tomorrow but Jack Absolute isn't likely to shy from that and the youngster could be the value bet against his elders.
Tony McCoy travels for the ride on JP McManus's new purchase, Arbor Supreme, in the opener and the first horse that the owner has had with Willie Mullins has been upped to jumping quickly after a good bumper debut at Leopardstown.
Mullins described Arbor Supreme as a less than straight-forward ride after that but McCoy is the man for that job and maybe also in the handicap hurdle for the impeccably bred Streets Of Gold, who ran into Orbit O'Gold at Downpatrick in November in his last start.
