Mullins - Bumper hope worked well. (Getty Images)

By Michael Clower

The Kicking King saga apart, the most significant aspect of Ireland's Cheltenham build-up in recent days was the work session after racing at Leopardstown on Sunday.

You might expect that gallops on testing ground, with the weights carried a matter of guesswork, would throw up nothing but red herrings. However I have been at every one of these Leopardstown work-outs and year after year horses who caught the eye have run well at Cheltenham.

Total Enjoyment 12 months ago was a notable example and without doubt the most spectacular on Sunday evening was Missed That. Willie Mullins' Cheltenham Bumper favourite worked like Nijinsky, cruising home without coming off the bridle.

A horse with a bit of pace can easily work like that against out-and-out stayers such as Rule Supreme but this six-year-old has been winning over two miles in testing ground. Mullins, who rates him on a par with his four previous Champion Bumper winners, is convinced he will be even better on faster going and he is going to be hard to beat on Wednesday.

Unfortunately the price went within minutes of the gallop. This pre-Cheltenham session normally has a maximum of 50 spectators but this time it was shown live on At The Races and several viewers immediately got on to their bookmakers, with bets of E5,000 and E3,000 among those struck.

Hardy Eustace turned in a workmanlike performance with his much-improved stable companion Central House. When you consider that the Champion Hurdler used to be a lazy horse and still needs blinkers to bring out the best in him, it was an encouraging effort. He looks the one they all have to beat on Tuesday.

In contrast Harchibald's work after racing at Navan on Sunday evening was too bad to be true. The ground was gluey, as it was at Leopardstown, but it was still a surprise that both a scope and blood tests could find nothing amiss. He has been in good form ever since but he is hard to fancy now and at around 5-1 he makes little appeal.

Publican was not really asked to get on terms with Mariah Rollins when Pat Fahy worked his three Festival horses and, while you would have expected a Supreme Novices' Hurdle hope to close the gap of his own volition, it's worth remembering that the five-year-old was quite content to lob along at his own pace at Naas until Ruby Walsh pressed the button in earnest. This horse is going to run well in the opener.

Best Mate's defection from the Gold Cup has thrown the race wide open and has boosted Irish hopes of winning the prize for the first time for nine years, particularly now that Kicking King is back in the equation. He certainly looked the part in the King George VI Chase and he appears to have made a complete recovery from the bug that ailed him last week.