Willie Mullins juvenile pair clash as Paul Townend picks Zarak The Brave

Sunday: Fairyhouse

While all eyes will be on the three Grade 1s on the card, there is plenty of quality scattered throughout the other five races at Fairyhouse.

The best of the rest is the Grade 3 Bar One Racing Price Boost Juvenile Hurdle (12.25) which pits two of Willie Mullins' top juvenile hurdle prospects against one another.

Zarak The Brave, a ten-length winner of a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse, takes on three-year-old Lossiemouth, a Susannah Ricci-owned winning French recruit who makes her stable debut at Graded level.

Paul Townend takes the ride on Zarak The Brave, and wrote in his Ladbrokes blog why he prefers him to his stablemate.

"He raced a bit green the last day and still put the race to bed very quickly", he said. "Hopefully he'll build on that experience.

"Lossiemouth is an interesting one. Her work is good at home, but I've gone for the horse with a run under his belt and the experience."

Mullins won't have it all his own way, with Joseph O'Brien doubly represented by the JP McManus-owned pair of Comfort Zone and Common Practice.

Comfort Zone won comfortably on his hurdles debut at Navan last weekend. Jockey JJ Slevin said he "did everything easily" on that occasion, and he was shortened into 12-1 for the Triumph Hurdle afterwards.

Local trainer Dermot McLoughlin will be hoping Irish Grand National hero Lord Lariat can add another big Fairyhouse win to his CV having also landed the Ladies Handicap Chase at last year's winter festival.

The seven-year-old has finished in the first two five times at Fairyhouse, and his trainer is hoping the Porterstown Handicap Chase (12.55) can be a stepping stone in his bid to emulate his Irish National success at Aintree come April.

Lord Lariat: Irish Grand National hero is a three-time winner at FairyhouseCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

"He seems good," said McLoughlin. "Obviously, he's going to have to carry a bit of weight here, but we want to get another run under his belt and then plan from there.

"We're hoping to send him over to Aintree this year. He seems in very good nick."

Chapeau De Soleil, who debuts for Willie and Patrick Mullins, is ante-post favourite for the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and makes his first rules outing in the closing Bar One Racing Giving Cash Back Daily Pro-Am Flat Race (3.35).

He was a five-length point-to-point winner for Colin Bowe at Stowlin, and takes on the Gordon Elliott-trained Better Days Ahead, who will be hoping for exactly that having been turned over by Carnfunnock at 1-3 when making his debut at Down Royal.

In the Grade A Bar One Racing Handicap Hurdle (3.05), Mullins' Icare Allen will look to defy joint top-weight against, among others, Noel Meade's Pinkerton and Emmet Mullins' Merlin Giant.

Eoin Doyle's Optional Mix, meanwhile, will vie to continue her good form in the opening EBF Mares Handicap Chase (11.55) having captured a second win over fences in October. She takes on Gavin Cromwell's Malina Girl and David O'Brien's Minx Tiara.

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