The nine-year-old Faugheen showed little sign of ring-rustiness on his first appearance since winning the Irish Champion Hurdle in January, 2016 as he demolished the opposition in the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle in a manner that suggested he retains all his old ability.
The Champion Hurdle in March is the ultimate objective for the Willie Mullins-trained gelding, and Ricci would like to see Faugheen have two more runs before then, possibly one over Christmas and then in the Irish Champion.
"I was delighted with that. When they come back you are not quite sure. He looked muscular, but a bit big in the ring. It was great to have him back and it was a job really well done," he told At The Races.
"I don't know where next with Faugheen. We want to get back to Cheltenham. The Irish Champion is a wonderful race. If we had to miss Christmas and go for that it would be fine.
"I've not spoken to Willie about it, but I'd say Christmas would be good and having been off for so long you'd like him to have a couple of more runs before Cheltenham. That's probably the route we'd take.
"If you saw Faugheen at his best, which he was a couple of years ago, he was one of the best champion hurdlers of all time, in my opinion. If he can get close to that, then I think he'd go very close."
Ricci is also excited at the prospect of Douvan's impending return, after being off the track since his shock defeat in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March. The Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown next month is one of the options for the two-mile specialist.
"Douvan is in good nick. He seems to have his swagger back, what he had a couple of years ago, and I'm looking forward to him coming out," said Ricci.
"I think Un De Sceaux is for that race, we've got Min in the mix and there's Yorkhill. I'm not sure where he's going. We haven't talked about it yet and where the horses are going to run. We'll have to see in the next few weeks. Wherever he goes, it will be interesting."
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