Having travelled like the winner for a long way in Sunday’s John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase, he had to make do with the runner-up spot behind Joncol, but Hughes feels his charge will appreciate a sounder surface.

“I was a bit disappointed he didn’t finish better after the way he travelled,” said Hughes.

“He was going so well but the heavy ground might have taken a bit too much out of him through the race, as it was very testing.

“Obviously I’ve only had him this season but looking back on all his runs, his best performances were on good to soft ground.

“He doesn’t need good ground necessarily, but it was particularly heavy at Punchestown yesterday, which suited the winner.

“He’s come out of it fine and we’ll look at the Lexus now and hope they get a bit better ground.”