Pieros

Final Demand was already smart over hurdles and always looked the type to improve once sent over fences. He has not disappointed in two starts in this discipline, winning at Navan on his seasonal return and chase debut, then landing the Grade 1 named after Faugheen at Limerick a month ago. He shapes like a strong stayer at this trip, so testing conditions should play to his strengths. Already prominent in the Brown Advisory market for the Cheltenham Festival, he looks set to run another excellent race as preparation for the spring targets. Not a huge price, maybe one for your Sunday acca.

You probably remember Waterford Whispers running an excellent race when second in the 2024 Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival. He has been a slow learner over fences and remains winless after five chase starts, yet has shown more this season with placed efforts at Listowel and Galway before a below-par run at Punchestown when sent off 11/8 favourite. He jumped left there, lost ground at several fences, and never really travelled. It was a performance that looked too bad to be true. He now returns after a 71 day break and should be happier back in testing conditions. JP McManus fields a strong team for this race, but Mark Walsh choosing him off a low weight of only 10-4 makes him interesting at double figure odds, with firms paying six places on each-way terms.

Lossiemouth is a proven champion and will always be hard to beat, but there are reasons to think Brighterdaysahead could reverse that one-length defeat from last time, with her seasonal return now behind her. She is usually very effective at this stage of the season and clearly enjoys testing ground. She beat odds-on State Man in similar conditions last term and later landed another Grade 1 at this venue in impressive style. Something clearly went wrong in the spring, yet her December hurdle run was encouraging, especially as she was not given a hard race. With that outing in the legs, she looks a serious danger to the Mullins favourite.