RUNAWAY Thyestes Chase winner Monbeg Notorious (8/1) was among 26 Irish-trained entries in a field of 70 put forward for the National Hunt Chase.

The seven-year-old could hardly have been more impressive at Gowran Park on Thursday when he ran out an 11-length winner off a mark of 137. That performance would put him into the reckoning for the four-miler which may come into the equation for his trainer Gordon Elliott who also mentioned the Irish Grand National as a possible target.

Elliott has won two of the previous three renewals of this race (Cause Of Causes in 2015, Tiger Roll last year) and he is not short of options in his bid for a third win. The Meath trainer has given entries to Jury Duty (14/1) and Shattered Love (14/1), the 1-2 in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novices’ Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas.

Willie Mullins holds 11 of the 26 Irish entries but none of which are priced below 25/1 with the multiple-entered Al Boum Photo, Invitation Only and Bonbon Au Miel all available to back at that price.

Mall Dini (20/1) and Presenting Percy (8/1), the 2016 and 2017 Pertemps Final winners for the exact same connections, have been given entries in this race. Presenting Percy is more likely to go for the RSA Chase but Mall Dini, is on track for a Cheltenham return and could well run here.

Of the home team, Elegant Escape (14/1) looks a likely runner for Colin Tizzard. The six-year-old son of Dubai Destination finished second to Black Corton (20/1) in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase and significantly has been sent to all the same races stablemate Native River ran in before he finished second in this race in 2016.