Nicky Henderson views Sunday's williamhill.com Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton as the perfect opportunity to decide whether Sprinter Sacre will need another outing before Cheltenham in March.
Many had written off the soon-to-be 10-year-old off after a moderate return following a lengthy absence due to an irregular heartbeat.
He contested the Clarence House Chase at Ascot last January after 13 months off the track and plenty of positives were gleaned from his effort when second to subsequent Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Dodging Bullets.
However, back to his favourite stomping ground at Cheltenham in March, he looked a shadow of his former self and Barry Geraghty eventually pulled him up in the home straight.
Rather than drawing stumps, Henderson sent him to Sandown for the Celebration Chase in April and he shaped well, finishing second to Special Tiara and giving connections enough encouragement to continue this season.
Their faith was rewarded in last month's Shloer Chase at Cheltenham when Sprinter Sacre saw off Somersby by 14 lengths and he now returns to Kempton, the track where his heart issues originally came to light in this race two years ago.
"Sprinter Sacre is good to go in the Desert Orchid," Henderson told his www.StanJames.com blog.
"As everybody knows, we very nearly didn't run him at Cheltenham the other day because the ground was so soft but he coped with that all right.
"Unless it's desperate, he will be running. Everything's gone well and he looks great. After Cheltenham I said we'd like to run him here because the best chance of the best ground was at Kempton.
"By running, it'll tell us whether he actually needs to run again between now and Cheltenham. If he needs to, he can do, but if he doesn't I'd be perfectly happy to go straight from here to there if all went well.
"He does seem in good form. It's a good opportunity, the timing's good and he's all ready to go."