Energumene can defy lengthy absence by completing Hilly Way Chase hat-trick at Cork 

Now a 10-year-old, Energumene is a six-time Grade One winner, including back-to-back wins in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

He has also won the Hilly Way twice and reportedly retains plenty of zest for the game.

Back after a long absence and sure to improve for the run, he should outclass his five stable-companions and, more significantly, Joseph O’Brien’s Banbridge, who must concede weight to all.

Conqueror of two-mile champion Captain Guinness at Punchestown last April, he’ll be helped by his seasonal debut fourth behind Found A Fifty in the ‘Fortria’ at Navan.

Elsewhere on the Cork card, the Gavin Cromwell-trained mare Only By Night, who brushed aside Mirazur West on her chasing bow in Tipperary, might follow-up in the Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Sires Order Of St George Irish EBF Mares Novice Chase.

Meanwhile, in Navan on Saturday, on a card likely to be dominated by Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins, the Elliott-trained The Yellow Clay is difficult to oppose in the Grade Two Tote Navan Novice Hurdle.

Winner of two bumpers and runner-up in a Grade One at the Punchestown festival, this Yeats gelding is unbeaten in two starts over hurdles, a Down Royal maiden and the Grade Three Monksfield over this course and distance last month.

He picked up impressively after a slight mistake two out to beat Where’s My Jet by 10 lengths last time, the performance of an exciting staying novice.

Saturday’s race looks an ideal stepping stone on the road to top level action. And it’ll be disappointing if he fails to deliver again.

The Mullins-trained Jasmin De Vaux, impressive on his debut in Naas and winner of the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, will be expected to make a successful start over hurdles in the Headfort Arms Hotel Maiden Hurdle.