Triple-Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq has started his build-up for a record-breaking fourth victory in the Smurfit-sponsored contest at Cheltenham on March 12th.
"He's very well and he's back in work," the gelding's trainer Aidan O'Brien told the Racing Channel. "The plan I think is to run him at Christmas time."
The outbreak of foot and mouth disease robbed the nine-year-old of a another possible success in last season's Champion Hurdle. Istabraq was odds on when the already-postponed National Hunt Festival was cancelled on April 1st.
Istabraq, who carries the colours of JP McManus, ran three times last term and sandwiched between heavy falls at Leopardstown was his fourth victory in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at the Dublin track.
The Tote's Smurfit Champion Hurdle betting:6-4 Istabraq, 12-1 Jair du Cochet, Landing Light, Ned Kelly, 16-1 Bilboa, Moscow Flyer, 20-1 Geos, 25-1 bar.
