Gavin Cromwell is confident there is plenty of improvement in stable star Flooring Porter after finishing fourth on his return to action in the Lismullen Hurdle.

The eight-year-old was still in with a chance of victory when falling two flights from home in the Grade Two contest 12 months ago, after which he went on to finish second at Leopardstown over Christmas before successfully defending his crown in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

After adopting his customary pacesetting role, Flooring Porter this time weakened out of contention on his Navan comeback – beaten 12 lengths by shock winner Home By The Lee.

Cromwell, though, was far from disappointed with his performance and is happy to stick to the plan of heading to Leopardstown’s Christmas Hurdle, this year named in honour of the late Jack de Bromhead, before preparing him for a hat-trick bid in the Cotswolds.

“We were happy enough with the run, he had to give away weight and obviously two-and-a-half (miles) is below his optimum trip. On the whole, we’re happy enough,” said the trainer.

“He will improve for the run, as he did last year. He’s come out of it well, absolutely.

“We’ll head on to Leopardstown as we did last year and then on to Cheltenham – if it’s not broken we won’t fix it.”

Flooring Porter is the 4-1 favourite with Paddy Power to become only the third horse to win three Stayers’ Hurdles after Inglis Drever (2005, 2007 and 2008) and Big Buck’s, who claimed four successive victories between 2009 and 2012.