Henry de Bromhead is pleased with his decision to sidestep Sunday's Irish Champion Hurdle with Identity Thief.
A narrow winner of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, the six-year-old was last seen going down fighting behind Nichols Canyon in the Ryanair Hurdle at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting.
Nichols Canyon was no match for the brilliant Faugheen and fellow Willie Mullins inmate Arctic Fire at the Foxrock venue over the weekend, though.
Identity Thief is set to take on the Mullins-trained triumvirate in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March and his trainer is looking forward to the challenge.
"I'm very happy we missed that (Irish Champion Hurdle). He'd had three runs already and had a pretty hard race the last day, so we backed off him and he seems in really good form," de Bromhead told At The Races.
"We're aiming straight to the Champion Hurdle. Probably his best form is on better ground and it was pretty testing in Leopardstown.
"He put up a good performance in the Fighting Fifth and he's a horse that's improving.
"He's a very exciting horse."