After 10 months off the track Cheltenham Gold Cup Favourite Presenting Percy trained by Patrick Kelly is bidding to make his seasonal debut over Hurdles.
Last year's superb RSA Chase winner has been at the top of the market for Cheltenham's most prestigious race at the festival for the majority of the season, even with not being seen on a racecourse.
The eight year old back to back Cheltenham festival winner will seek to make her first racecourse outing at Gowran Park on Thursday in the Grade 2 John Mulhern Galmoy Hurdle.
This is a race that Percy won last year on route to landing the Grade 1 RSA Chase in March and will be looking to make the same impression on this race as he did last season.
The reason the 4/1 favourite for the Gold Cup has not been seen yet this season is due to his owner Phillip Reynolds and trainer Patrick Kelly patiently waiting for the ground to be soft as the weather has not produced the rain there horses needs.
The unsuitably quick ground for the gelding has not seen him race since his seven length victory at the festival last year but on the flip side he started his pursuit for Cheltenham with this exact race last season so the Gold Cup plan is still on track.
His stance at the top of the Gold Cup market has seemingly strengthened throughout the season so far and this is due to last year's winner Native River, racing twice and not winning any of them but still running respectively.
Other horses who were thought to be at the top of the market come March have so far disappointed, with the likes of Might Bite for example being thoroughly poor so far this campaign.
Presenting Percy is set to take on 11 other rivals on Thursday at Gowran Park for the Group 2 spoils including some decent Grade 1 winning horses like Limini and Bleu Berry for Willie Mullins and Don Poli for Gordon Elliott.