Patrick Mullins is looking forward to taking the ride on Sortudo in Sunday's Ballymore Novice Hurdle at Naas.
The six-year-old son of Authorized goes into the two and a half-mile Grade 1 contest on the back of a wide-margin Cork maiden success, having won twice in bumpers last season.
Mullins' mount takes on stablemate Saint Baco and seven other promising runners in what could be a highly informative contest.
Mullins told sportinglife.com: "Sortudo's bumper form was very good, he won in Tramore with Jody (Townend), I was second on him at Leopardstown over Christmas, Jody was second on him at the DRF. He was seventh in Cheltenham (Champion Bumper) with Danny (Mullins), then he won very well in Fairyhouse.
"He won that very impressively and was very good on hurdling debut at Cork in November. As a bumper horse he probably wasn't quite at the top table but he seems to hurdle very well.
"I don't think there's any standout horse in it at the moment so I think he has to have a huge chance, I'm really looking forward to riding him. I think I was second in this race a couple of years ago but I haven't won this one yet."
On Navan maiden hurdle winner Saint Baco, the assistant trainer added: "Saint Baco was obviously very good in Navan and he was winning when maybe one or two of our other maiden hurdlers weren't.
"He had been off quite a long time so we thought there'd be a lot of improvement to come from that and it's what we've seen from him at home.
"It probably wasn't an easy decision for Paul (Townend) but I suppose that Saint Baco has the profile with more potential perhaps. But it's only his third run and regardless of what he does on Sunday he's still a promising horse for the future."
