The Irish team manager, Tommy Wade, is quietly confident that he has the horsepower to pull off victory in this afternoon's Aga Khan Cup and take over the lead in the Samsung Super League.
Sotto voce is not normally an expression associated with Wade, known for his ability to voice his opinions, but a viral infection has left him with virtually no voice.
A course of antibiotics is doing the trick and, even though he was totally voiceless on Wednesday, Wade reckons he'll be back to full power in time to hand out the instructions to his team this afternoon.
"I reckon we'll win, with a bit of luck," Wade whispered in the international pocket area yesterday, after watching 50 per cent of his team in triumphant mode when Cian O'Connor and Billy Twomey found their way into the winner's enclosure.
"The horses are good enough, as long as the lads don't make any mistakes," he said.
A win on home ground is always Wade's priority, but this year's competition has an extra edge to it with the addition of Super League status in the new Samsung series, which incorporates eight of the world's top show jumping venues.
The French are currently heading the series, with the Irish shadowing the leaders just point five adrift. Victory today would be sweet, but as long as Ireland finishes ahead of France, Wade will be happy, as it would mean promotion to the head of the league table.
"There's a lot of money on offer in the Samsung," Wade said yesterday. "I think there's something like 200,000." There is indeed - 200,000 Swiss francs - and money talks in the world of show jumping.
Wade sees the French as a threat to today's Irish hopes, but believes that the British will be putting up an even stronger bid for the top as a follow-up to their unexpected win in Hickstead a fortnight ago. That victory put Britain into third place in the Super League and British tails are up, but even a win this afternoon wouldn't put them ahead of either Ireland or France as they already have two wins apiece under their belts.
Ireland has the advantage of a second-last-to-go draw amongst the eight nations, with Germany and France kicking off and the British drawn immediately before the home side. The chief benefit of a late draw will be if any of the teams are level after the two rounds, when one horse from each will be selected to go against the clock. That worked in Ireland's favour in St Gallen when Robert Splaine had the best of a head-to-head against Swiss ace Markus Fuchs, but French speed ace Laurent Goffinet - winner of Wednesday's feature - has to be considered the biggest danger.
But whatever happens this afternoon, there are other major goals that have to be achieved. Defence of the European title in Germany the week after next is the first of those, but a good place at the championships is critical, as Olympic qualification also hangs in the balance.