Colm Murphy concedes that Quito De La Roque's performance in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown next weekend will go a long way to determining his next target.

If he were to run with credit it is likely he would take his chance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but another lacklustre showing like that of his Lexus run could make connections think twice about going to England.

The eight-year-old's five-race winning streak was brought to an abrupt halt when he was left toiling behind Synchronised at Christmas, a performance Murphy still believes was not his true running.

"It was probably the first day he never came home, you just wonder how right he was as he didn't gallop to the line," said the County Wexford handler.

"Hopefully we'll see a better horse in the Hennessy. He's good, he seems well and I'm hoping for a really good run. I was very disappointed with him in the Lexus, we'd like to think he's better than that.

"The Hennessy will tell us if he's a Gold Cup horse and if he runs well that's likely to be his next race," he told At The Races.