CONOR O’Dwyer’s Battle It Out looked like a horse really going in the right direction after a 13-length score in the Nas Na Riogh Novice Handicap Chase at Naas and the six-year-old is out to continue that progression in the valuable Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Chase Handicap Final (4.33) at Navan today.

The J.P. McManus-owned gelding relished the step up in trip to two and a half miles at Naas and he is stepping up further in distance today, over just short of three miles, with O’Dwyer’s son Charlie in the plate again.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing him out again,” O’Dwyer told The Irish Field. “His jumping at Naas was so good. Earlier in the season he got a bad fall at Punchestown, but he has matured and put things together since. The way he travelled and jumped at Naas, he showed the signs of a very nice horse.

“We’ve been delighted with him since and I think the trip will suit him. Two and a half miles on heavy ground probably would have been fine again but he’s bred to stay. It’s a pity he has top weight but we can’t have it all our own way. We’re expecting a big run and hoping he can keep progressing.”

He takes on 10 rivals, most of which are very unexposed and trying this longer trip for the first time over fences. Paul Marvel and Ask Anything both have relatively strong claims, while one horse near guaranteed to stay is William Murphy’s Clonmeen, who was last seen finishing a highly respectable third in the three-mile-five-furlong Grand National Trial at Punchestown. The ground at Navan was described as heavy yesterday.