Punchestown Day Two preview:   It's a feat that doesn't yet have a history, but if Kicking King can add the Guinness Gold Cup to the King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup he already has in the bag then it will be a Triple Crown worth talking about for some time.

The Tom Taaffe-trained star takes on an international field that includes the 2003 winner, First Gold from France, and Kingscliff, who did best-of-the-rest at Kempton last December.

Throw in the ultra-versatile Rule Supreme from Willie Mullins' yard and this will be a substantial test for Ireland's first Gold Cup hero in nine years.

The previous one, Imperial Call, also managed to win this afternoon's €225,000 festival feature, but that was three years after he ruled the roost at Cheltenham. In Kicking King we are dealing with a champion still very much on the up.

The seven-year-old, a Grade One winner here in December's Durkan Chase, was supremely impressive at Cheltenham off a preparation that was famously interrupted due to a bad scope just weeks before the race. The bad news for the rest is that the run-up to today's test has been A1.

"I couldn't be happier with him and his preparation has been perfect," Tom Taaffe said yesterday. "He's had a break and has had only two races since he won the Durkan. He is in very good form."

Mullins has elected to take on Kicking King rather than wait for tomorrow's Stayers Hurdle, and the small field, as well as the prospect of give in the ground, will be ideal for Ruby Walsh's mount.

In most circumstances that would be enough, but Kicking King's win here in December was the first clear evidence he is capable of jumping that can put even the soundest chasers to the sword. For a horse like Rule Supreme, whose jumping has been iffy in the past, the sight of the favourite in full flow will be intimidating.

In the circumstances then, Kingscliff looks the most obvious threat, and significantly comes here fresh having missed out on Cheltenham. Robert Alner was downplaying his chances yesterday, but the track will suit better than Kempton.

"He has settled in well and he will be a fresh horse. The extra distance will be a help too," he said yesterday.

First Gold was runner-up to Grey Abbey at Liverpool and isn't likely to get the easy lead he likes, while Pizarro's jumping has let him down too often.

It was in the Swordlestown Cup last year that Kicking King took a crashing fall at the second last. That was in his novice days when two-and-a-half miles was the furthest he was asked to go. We're dealing with a very different animal now.

Missed That will also be a warm order to follow up a Cheltenham success in the Paddy Power Champion Bumper.

He provided Mullins with a fifth success in the Cheltenham bumper and is rated the most exciting prospect in the yard by his trainer.

A trio of cross-sea raiders may not be as much of a danger as Missed That himself. The most astonishing part of his previous victory was that he managed it at all after having pulled so hard to the top of the hill.

Mullins will be hoping that Jamie Codd can keep him anchored for long enough.

Dabiroun is another Cheltenham winner in action in the opening hurdle, but Nina Carberry's mount looks worth opposing with Levitator. The ex-Juddmonte-owned horse was a stayer on the flat but showed plenty of speed to win on his jumping debut at Fairyhouse. Levitator looks a progressive type who also has the advantage of being fresh.

Callow Lake ran an honourable race for his former trainer David Wachman in last year's Galway Hurdle, and on his return to action on the flat at Leopardstown there was plenty to like about the way he ran on behind Icklingham.

Barry Geraghty rides him in the handicap hurdle today and Callow Lake looks a better value option than the Liverpool winner Definate Spectacle.

Geraghty could also score on Sandy Owen in the novice chase, while Rheindross is at the right end of the weights in the handicap chase.