Jessica Harrington's Macs Joy will face five rivals at Leopardstown on Sunday as he bids to continue a successful season with victory in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle.
Winner of two of his three jumps starts this winter, the six-year-old will again head to the Dublin track after strolling away with the Bewleys Hotels December Festival Hurdle last month.
Macs Joy had four of tomorrow's rivals behind him when landing that Grade One event with Brave Inca, Hardy Eustace, Solerina and George's Girl chasing him home.
Accordion Etoile is the only new challenger for Macs Joy, with the Paul Nolan-trained six-year-old a general 8-1 chance for the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Reigning champion hurdler Hardy Eustace remains a doubt for the race. Speaking in The Irish Timestoday, trainer Dessie Hughes said he wants to run his stable star but will monitor the ground conditions.
"We want to run," he said. "It's just we don't want to run on really heavy ground. I will leave it as late as possible. We may even declare him and see what conditions are like on the day."
"I would say at the moment it is 50-50 about him running. That's about as much as I can say. If the ground gets better we'll run and if it doesn't we won't," Hughes added.