Both Willie Mullins and Noel Meade admit they will not know how much the Cheltenham efforts of Djakadam and Road To Riches took out of their charges until they run in the Bibby Financial Services Ireland Gold Cup at Punchestown on Wednesday.

The pair finished second and third behind Coneygree last month in what looked a gruelling race, but several horses who ran in the Gold Cup have come out and performed well since, not least Many Clouds in the Grand National.

What is slightly worrying Mullins is that Djakadam is only a six-year-old and putting up such a big effort at that stage of his career may have left a mark.

The champion trainer also runs the Graham Wylie-owned pair of On His Own and Boston Bob, winner of the race last year.

"It was a very searching, testing pace (in the Gold Cup) and for a six-year-old, Djakadam did well to finish second," Mullins told TG4.

"He did well to be in a challenging position over the second-last and last. If that hasn't taken too much out of him, I think he'll run a big race.

"Boston Bob always runs a good race. He likes this track and would have an each-way chance. On His Own goes better right-handed."

For Meade, his concern will be that his stable star has been on the go since winning the Galway Plate in July, nearly 10 months ago.

"Road To Riches seems well enough at home, although he had a hard race in Cheltenham all right. He was in second place there and just got caught near the line," said Meade.

"If he brings his A-game to Punchestown, he'll have a big chance. But I don't know how much Cheltenham has taken out of him, although we thought there that better ground would help him."

A boost to his case is that Bryan Cooper has stayed loyal to him rather than ride Gordon Elliott's Don Cossack, an electrifying winner at Aintree.

Leading the British contingent is David Pipe's Ballynagour, narrowly beaten by Silviniaco Conti at Aintree on just his second run over three miles. He ran at the Festival last year, finishing second to Sizing Europe over two miles.

"I'd always thought he'd stay three miles which was way we ran him in the Hennessy and I think that day he just wasn't fit enough and blew up, rather than not seeing out the trip," said Pipe.

"He's been lightly raced and is a hard horse to keep fit, but he's shown that when we can train him properly, he's very talented. It was a great run at Aintree after so long off and I'm looking forward to it."

Colin Tizzard's Cue Card has not been able to recapture his very best since returning from a spell on the sidelines, but he took a step back in the right direction when second to Don Cossack at Aintree, albeit beaten a long way.

"The way he travelled and jumped, he looked back to his old self for a long way at Aintree. He made a mistake three out and I thought that he could have fallen in a hole after that but he ran all the way to the line," said Tizzard's son