Douvan could be about to follow the two-mile route this season with Willie Mullins preparing to unveil last season's champion novice for his first race of the new campaign over the minimum trip.
Mullins is set to choose between Sandown's Betfair Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday and the following weekend's Kerry Group Hilly Way Chase at Cork for Douvan's eagerly-anticipated return to action.
Both races are over two miles and Douvan is currently as short as 4-7 to claim Sprinter Scare's Champion Chase crown at Cheltenham in March.
However the range of the Rich Ricci-owned star’s talents are such that he is also as low as 7-1 in some ante-post lists for steeplechasing’s ‘blue-riband’ prize, the Gold Cup.
“Hopefully he will be able to run soon. He is entered for both the Tingle Creek and the Hilly Way. Un De Sceaux is also in at Sandown so we’ll see how things work out this week. But I would imagine Douvan would run in one of the two,” said Ireland’s champion trainer.
"The other route to go would be the John Durkan [run at Punchestown on Sunday week] but we have Djakadam for that. If they had different owners they might take each other on. But for now at least I think Douvan will stay at two miles," Mullins added.
Eight entries
Un De Sceaux has been favourite for the Tingle Creek for some time but there is uncertainty about the final make up of the Grade One highlight after only eight entries were made for it on Monday resulting in the race being reopened for another 24 hours.
The identities of the eight Tingle Creek entries have not been officially released but bookmakers continue to quote Un De Sceaux at the top of their lists along with the English-trained Ar Mad.
In flat news, Aidan O'Brien's Breeders Cup hero Highland Reel is an odds-on favourite in some lists to repeat his 2015 success in Sunday week's Hong Kong Vase.
Victory would provide O’Brien with a perfect Group One seal to another vintage campaign which currently sees him on 22 top-flight victories on the flat.
Ireland’s champion trainer has again come up short of Bobby Frankel’s world-record tally of 25 Group/Grade One wins in a single year but O’Brien has maintained throughout that chasing the record wasn’t a priority for him.
Highland Reel has been a Ballydoyle stalwart throughout 2016 and as well as landing the Breeders Cup Turf earlier this month he also won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July and finished runner-up to Found in the Arc.
He is as short as 10-11 to repeat his victory of a year ago in the mile and a half Vase and his task will have been eased with reports that the French-trained Erupt, winner of the Canadian International last month, is unlikely to take part.
Instead other European hopes are likely to include the English-trained Big Orange and the Pascal Bary-trained Silverwave.
O’Brien could also be represented in the Mile on the prestigious International race card with Cougar Mountain.
