Beef Or Salmon appears to have recovered from the bug that resulted in a below-par effort when coming a well-beaten third behind Best Mate in the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown on December 28th.
Mucus was found in the lungs of the gelding when he was scoped on returning to trainer Michael Hourigan's Patrickswell stables after the Ericsson.
However, Hourigan today said: "He worked this morning - he's all there again and he scoped clean. I'll give it a few days and take some blood from him to make sure everything is right and I'll know more this day week."
Hourigan is going to wait until after the results of all the tests are known before making any firm plans for Beef Or Salmon, who is a top-priced 16-1 chance for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup.