Equine giants of the game such as Arkle (1963) and Captain Christy (1974) have won the Powers Gold Cup, but one notable human name off the Grade One race's roll of honour is trainer Arthur Moore. Native Upmanship looks set to put that right.
It's a curious omission for someone who is such a presence in every other major Irish chase, and in truth Moore has come close in recent years with runners-up Jeffell, Bonalma and Royal Bond. But Native Upmanship looks a very different type of operator.
Unbeaten over fences up to the SunAlliance Chase, Native Upmanship started favourite for the Cheltenham feature but didn't look happy on the ground coming down the hill and ultimately wound up fourth to Lord Noelie.
The race should at least have provided the John Magnierowned horse with the experience that rider Conor O'Dwyer feared Native Upmanship lacked on his way to the festival. And Native Upmanship does look a horse to progress.
The giant Montana Glen has been aimed at this race all season and comes here on the back of a Navan win last month, and he looks a bigger danger than Rathbawn Prince, who does like quick ground, and the apparent English handicapper Sunrise Special.
Moore and O'Dwyer could also be on the mark in the opening maiden hurdle with Hugolin, who has hurdling experience and ran a close third to Amelia Earhart in a Gowran bumper last time. But the partnership's interesting recruit from the flat, Risk Material, is now a doubtful runner in the following event.
The most valuable race is the £75,000 handicap hurdle which was won by She's Our Mare last year. She misses it this time, and some attention will instead focus on Pat Hughes, who runs three, including the Ladbroke winner Mantles Prince which has kept a substantial number of the field out of the handicap proper.
Moore himself has two, including the Imperial Cup runner-up The Gatherer, as has Willie Mullins. But the solution could be Dermot Weld's Moving On Up, who may have found the ground faster than ideal when behind Master Tern in the County Hurdle, and Barry Geraghty looks a significant booking for Dermot Weld's horse.
