Weapon's Amnesty did nothing wrong with a good second in the Dr P J Moriarty Chase and I thought he ran a perfectly respectable RSA Chase trial as the drop down in trip would not suit this strong stayer and he also much prefers decent ground so the testing surface would have also been against him.

He did take a while again for his jumping to warm to the task which has been a trait in his races and that is the area that would worry me. As for the surprise all-the-way winner, Citizen Vic, Willie Mullins won this race with Cooldine last season before winning the RSA Chase and he is clearly improving at a rate of knots so it would be dangerous to overlook him but, as far as ante-post action is concerned, his trainer also mentioned the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse as a possible objective so he is no certain runner here as yet.

The injury to Mighty Man has ruled him out for the season which has strengthened Punchestown's position at the head of the market after his win at Sandown. As far as his RSA Chase chance is concerned, it is noticeable that bad error occurred at the first downhill fence he has jumped in a race and there are at least four of those in the 'RSA', two of which during the hottest part of the race - three out and two out.

The fact that his stablemate and second-favourite, Long Run, heads to an Arkle trial this weekend has heightened speculation that he may bypass the race but no one really knows, not even the connections apparently.

Weird Al confirmed his victory over Knockara Beau in the Towton Novices' Chase from when they met at Cheltenham in November. I felt the latter may have gained his revenge on 8lbs better terms but it shows just how nicely Weird Al is progressing to give him a more comprehensive beating on worse terms this time and he looks like being the only serious contender with winning chase form at the course going into the race, a feat he has achieved twice. Three fairly recent winners of that Wetherby Grade 2 race have also finished second here which is another pointer in his favour. Another performance that was hard to fault was Tazbar's defeat of some useful types by 14 lengths over 2m3f given the trip would have been plenty short enough for the Feltham Chase runner-up. That was a form boost for Long Run who beat him with considerable ease at Kempton and it could be his best chance of picking up a top staying chase may be at Aintree over 3m1f.