Guitar Pete has been the most fluent hurdler we've seen either side of the Irish Sea, and not just in this race.

Is 12/1 value? So far there has been no bet-compelling juvenile hurdler (as Zarkandar and Our Conor were, for instance). Maybe something will emerge from the Adonis. If not, 12/1 e/w for the top Irish contender might start to look interesting if not tempting.

Mullins has the very promising Adriana Des Mottes and the mysterious All Pepper entered in a grade 2 at fairyhouse on saturday plus a couple of others ,Plinth is entered too.

Pearl Castle is declared at Doncaster tomorrow instead of Adonis.  Looked very impressive last time.

Pearl Castle was boxed in on the bend and made mistakes at 3 and 2 out and still gave 2nd 7lb and comfortable beating. Race looked less impressive but will jump better at Chelt with stronger pace. I would think they'd have to go for Triumph, but still in the Supreme also.

I thought todays race was far more comfortable than it looked but was maybe seeing the race through my pocket. I'm confident he'll be in the shake up next month.

PEARL CASTLE emerged from his JCB Triumph Hurdle preparation run at Doncaster with reputation intact, but he had to work harder for victory than odds of 4-6 suggested.

Pearl Castle was best-priced 16-1 for the Triumph before his run. That was still widely available after an unspectacular victory, although some firms did trim the winner's festival odds.

Trained by John Quinn, who won the Triumph in 2012 with Countrywide Flame, he made a minor blunder three from home, nodding on landing, but recovered well to stay with the leaders and was then driven clear of Zamoyski and Ronaldinho after the last.

Owner Paul Gaffney said: "My heart is still going 220 plus at the moment but he recovered well. He has got flat speed and Brian [Hughes] gave him a great ride, hands and heels only.

"He is still learning and he just keeps getting better. I am pleased with the win, he is home safely and will go to Cheltenham now I guess."

The nice thing about Pearl Castle is that he clearly has that high cruising speed need to keep your position or get you back into on which he did today.  Having said all that, his jumping will need to be better as he wont get the chance to recover like he did today against the calibre of horse he will meet, especially stayers and battlers like Le Rocher.

I'm not sharing the love for Pearl Castle who beat trees yesterday and in his previous races. It is not out of the question that he can win the Triumph, especially on faster ground, but there is no real formbook evidence and we are left to judge (or guess) based on his pedigree, flat race form, and how confident connections look in the paddock.

Though to be fair, that applies to most of the rest of the field. Maybe a star will emerge from the Adonis.

Fred Winter?

The Grade 2s at Fairyhouse and Kempton within 40 minutes of each other remain potentially interesting.

Plinth tries again at Fairyhouse with Mullins running all three of his, Ruby has opted for Adriana Des Mottes who has the same sire as Sprinter Sacre amongst others - just wonder if the fact they're running three means they have n't quite finalized the rethink he talked about after Ivan Grozny's defeat at Leopardstown.

With regard to the Adonis, Nicholls now stating that Calipto will be his only runner in the Triumph unless Alcala wins here - he should have a line on Activial with Calipto and also runs Solar Impulse - does n't scream overwhelming confidence in Alcala.

In other news, the Rebecca Curtis runner Agreement in the Adonis catches the eye as well, but them again looks like AOB kept Plinth and sold this one so maybe not!

I'm just confusing myself now - hope we see at least one impressive contender emerge tomorrow, hopefully more!

Plinth tries again at Fairyhouse with Mullins running all three of his

Plinth runs but AP McCoy prefers to stay at home for Goodwood Mirage in the Adonis.

nice performance by Abbysial - Adriana's a girl of course (clue's in the name) so winner gave her 7lb - not sure she quite wanted to go through with her effort.

Bemused now by support for All Pepper in the week - Mullins said he does n't work great, ran a shocker, not very big and nothing in his pedigree - he's off the list anyway.

true - very few holes in Calipto form but they clearly think Activial has improved a lot from Newbury.

Really....do you think that was a quality race today??....i have my doubts, no depth in quality. Activial won nicely yes, but trainer said not certain to go, Jockey got off and said not necessarily a Triumph horse.  The second was soundly beaten by Kentucky Hayden which was soundly beaten by Le Rocher.  All in all the Le Rocher form is looking much better.  Add Barry Geraghty's comments after running on Guitar Pete (he stated the best Juvenile this season so far, he felt, was Le Rocher).  I see that Nicholls in the Exeter preview was talking about Calipto when he said ' I am confident of a good run but he prefers the softer ground" )which of course is highly possible but it did not have that twinkle in his eye.

Noel Fehily ain't ridden a Triumph winner but Barry Geraghty has ridden three!

Just saying...

I'm surprised they're not certain to go with Activial, visually very good at least, trainer said Adonis had been the target since Newbury - why would you not go? There will be 24 in the Fred Winter and the Aintree race just does n't carry the same prestige.

I suppose there';s some merit in an argument that he's a young horse who had a hard enough race in testing ground less than 3 weeks before the Triumph, and the Aintree race comes about another 3 weeks after that, he'd have a good chance of beating up the horses who did run in the Triumph at Aintree I suppose.

This kind of 'we will miss Cheltenham' talk appears to be on the increase. There was nothing in that performance which would suggest he would be better off skipping Cheltenham and going to Aintree. After the race his trainer was emphasising how he was a jump-bred. Well, where are you more likely to run into flat-breds? Time for a rethink I would have thought.

any word about goodwood mirage after? triumph or fred winter? thanks

I have an absolutely dreadful record in this race.  Since I've been going to Cheltenham in 2007, these have been my bets:

2007 - Katchit; WON!!!
2008 - Franchoek; LOST to Celestial Halo
2009 - Walkon; LOST to Zaynar
2010 - Olofi; LOST to Soldatino
2011 - Sam Winner; LOST to Zarkandar
2012 - Balder Succes; LOST to Countrywide Flame
2013 - Rolling Star; LOST to Our Conor.

That's a bigger losing streak than Mad Moose!  What will be my selection this year??? I don't know yet, but for your sake, if I back your selection, I would be laying off my stake pretty sharpish

@wellchief -- Gitane du Berlais was due to miss Cheltenham in favour of France, though recently Mullinsologists have detected signs of a rethink.

The thread title remains -- after all the trials on both sides of the Irish Sea, we are none the wiser and nor are connections.

No idea mate!  As mentioned, I have a bad losing streak in this, so not a race I look to get particularly involved in.  I'm sure he'll have at least one runner; but with Gitane and Ivan both being beat by Guitar Pete, I can't back either of them; so that only leaves Abbyssial for me (but haven't heard any interviews with connections after yesterdays race as to his target).

I put a line through all WPM's Triumph horses when Analifet was injured. She was their No.1.