Murphy, who trains at West Witton, near Middleham, could not have his string in better form and he is hoping the six-year-old can atone for an unlucky fall three out when he was still travelling well in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Before that, he had chased home the ill-fated Nil Desperandum in the stamina sapping Eider Chase at Newcastle, proving that extreme distances are no problem to him.

“Every now and again you come across horses that need extreme distances and he is one of them,” said Murphy.

“I think the drying ground will actually help him. The reason he has acted well on soft ground before is that it slows the others up a bit.

“He jumps a lot better on good ground. He jumped great at Cheltenham but just caught the third last, he was going well though.

“I think he is an ideal candidate as he will just hunt around and hopefully Graham (Lee) can just pick his spot and arrive to hopefully pinch the race late.

“I spoke to my man over there and he travelled over well, he’s had a spin on the track this morning so fingers crossed he runs well.”

The presence of the Tom Taaffe-trained Cane Brake at the head of the weights means that over half the 30-runner field are racing from out of the handicap.

Many trainers have decided to use jockeys who can claim their allowance, but Murphy says he would not swap his stable jockey for anyone.

“I don’t think you are going to get much better than Graham,” said Murphy. “He is absolutely riding at the top of his game at present and even if somebody gave me a rider who could use a 20lb claim I wouldn’t use him.”