John Smith's Grand National hero Numbersixvalverde makes his eagerly-awaited seasonal bow in the three-mile paddypowerpoker.com Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown on Wednesday.
Martin Brassil's 10-year-old has enjoyed a deserved break since landing odds of 11-1 in the ever-competitive marathon showpiece in April.
The gelding is able to race off a much lower handicap mark over timber and Brassil is excited to get his stable star back on the track.
Brassil feels Numbersixvalverde may be a little "rusty" on his first start for 263 days, however, and stressed plans for the rest of the season have not been mapped out at this early stage.
"Numbersix' comes back tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing how he gets on," he said.
"I think he might be a bit rusty after such a long break but we need to get him started off somewhere.
"We've got Slippers (Niall Madden) back on board tomorrow and we'll just be taking things one race at a time for now."
