Mouse Morris reports First Lieutenant to be on course for next month's Cheltenham Festival.
The seven-year-old won his seasonal debut at Tipperary but could only finish second at Cork next time out.
Victory in his third run of the season was followed with a poor effort at Fairyhouse - he was pulled up in the Drinmore Novice Chase - but he gave a much better account of himself when he was second to Last Instalment in the Topaz Fort Leney Novice Chase at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting.
Morris admits things have not gone as well as they could have this season, but the trainer is confident that he is back to the sort of form that saw him land the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle last year.
"He's on track for Cheltenham, as long as we don't have any hiccups between now and then," said Morris.
"He had one or two little back problems early in the season, when we were putting it down to the ground and it wasn't.
"But he jumped much better in Leopardstown and I'm very happy with him at the moment."
First Lieutenant is entered in both the RSA Chase and the Jewson Novices' Chase at Cheltenham.