Ruby Walsh doesn't describe many of his mounts as "machines" so it could pay to follow the career of Mikael D'Haguenet after the jockey used that metaphor to describe Sunday's Naas winner.

Irish trainer Willie Mullins has an exceptional team of young hurdlers this season and Mikael D'Haguenet's impressive success in the Goffs Slaney Novice Hurdle had Walsh purring afterwards.

Walsh said: "He is a very good horse. I have always liked him, I think he's a machine."

Machine is a word used only sparingly by Walsh and a scan through the cuttings library lends weight to his words and the five-year-old could well deserve support ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The trend starts back in November 2004 when Walsh got off Azertiyuiop after winning the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter.

"He's a machine - one of the best I've ridden," he said of the Arkle and Champion Chase winner who had just defied a welter burden in ground he detested.

The following month Walsh was at Newbury to ride a French-bred four-year-old making his debut for trainer Paul Nicholls.

It was the first time Walsh had ridden the horse and on dismounting the trainer said: "Ruby got off and said 'he's a machine - end of story'."

That horse was Kauto Star and Walsh was using the word again in December 2006 after the pair won the his first King George VI Chase win at Kempton. Walsh said afterwards: "He's a machine. I've never ridden a horse like him."

A Cheltenham Gold Cup and two more King George VI Chases and it was obvious the Irishman knew what he was talking about.

Walsh was injured when Sam Thomas partnered Denman to victory in the 2007 Hennessy Gold Cup but the subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup winner's ability had already led Walsh to say in December 2007: "I knew he was a machine."

Prior to Mikael D'Haguenet's win at Naas, Walsh last used the accolade following last year's Champion Chase win on Master Minded. "At the top of the hill, I was thinking 'just hang on fella, just get over these fences'. He's a machine," he said. Master Minded won the race at a canter by 18 lengths and is now the highest-rated horse in training.

But there is one problem before getting stuck into Mikael D'Haguenet in the ante-post markets.

Connections are yet to decide which race to go for at Cheltenham as Mullins has Hurricane Fly and Cousin Vinny also being aimed at the novice hurdles at the Festival.

The Ballymore Properties Novices' Hurdle looks the most likely and Ladbrokes offer of 6-1 could prove rewarding if Walsh's machine is still functioning.