Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Go Native will bid to follow up in the Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle over two miles on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival which runs from April 28 to May 2.

'He seemed fine after he won at Cheltenham and has been in good shape since,' reports trainer Noel Meade, who has seven entries.

'It is impossible to say whether he has improved from his last run. He is only starting to build up for Punchestown now, and we are happy enough with him at the moment.'

Go Native could face plenty of top-class rivals, including the Willie Mullins-trained Grade One winners Hurricane Fly and Cousin Vinny.

Ferdy Murphy has his eye on the Cathal Ryan Memorial Novices' Chase with the top-class Kalahari King. The eight-year-old was an impressive winner at Aintree and could face an exciting rematch with Forpadydeplasterer, who beat him a short head in the Arkle at Cheltenham.

'It will be either Punchestown or Sandown for Kalahari King. Graham (Lee) will come in and sit on him and that will decide where we are going to go - he will see how forward the horse is,' said Murphy.

'Forpadydeplasterer got the run of the race at Cheltenham and we did not. The race did not pan out for us at Cheltenham and we failed by the shortest of short heads, so we would be hopeful if we were to meet him again at Punchestown.'

Murphy has enjoyed some satisfying victories at the Punchestown Festival down the years, and Kalahari King himself landed the Aon Hurdle 12 months ago.

The trainer continued, 'The owner and her husband - Julie and Neil Morgan - are very keen to go to Punchestown because the horse won there last year and the Punchestown people looked after them very well.'

'Saying that, they will do whatever is best for the horse. He ripped a shoe off pulling up after passing the post at Aintree, but that did not cause him any real problems and he came out of the race fantastic. We gave him a little break after that and he is back in work now - he looks great.'

Alan King could have a number of runners at Punchestown including the progressive two-miler Oh Crick who could also line-up in the Cathal Ryan Memorial Novices' Chase.

King outlined plans saying, 'Oh Crick has the Cathal Ryan as an option, so Punchestown is a possibility. Silk Hall might run in the four-year-old hurdle and Nenuphar Collonges is likely to go for a handicap, while Over Sixty might run in the mares' hurdle.'

'Some of them could run before then and it has been a long season for these horses, so we will see how they are in another week or so before we commit to anything.'

Philip Hobbs also intends sending over a raiding party headed by Fair Along in the Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle.

The seven-year-old was a big disappointment in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival two starts ago, but bounced back to form with a fine third behind Solwhit in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.

Hobbs said, 'Fair Along will go for the stayers hurdle over there. We will have six or seven runners in all - we haven't quite worked it out yet - but we will have a few in the minor races.'