Identity Thief© Photo Healy Racing
Bryan Cooper believes Identity Thief will be a fresh horse heading into the Stan James Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on Tuesday.
The Henry de Bromhead-trained six-year-old narrowly denied Top Notch in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle in November before finding Nichols Canyon too strong at Leopardstown over Christmas.
Big-race jockey Cooper said: "He's been very good and will probably be a bit better on better ground.
"The break he's had from Christmas to Cheltenham will probably play into his hands a bit because he had a hard race at Christmas and it will have took him a while to get over that.
"Henry seems very happy with him, it's a wide-open race and I don't think I'd swap him for anything else."
As well as leading fancies Annie Power and Nichols Canyon, Willie Mullins is represented by Sempre Medici but admits he needs to up his game.
The champion trainer said: "He has got to improve about 10lb to get involved. He is not rated in the 160s yet but I have got nothing else to run him in, unless he goes in a handicap off top weight and I don't want to be doing that."
