Flooring Porter was given a fabulous front-running ride by Jonathan Moore to win the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle.
Supplemented for the Grade One having easily won a handicap last time out, Moore judged his fractions perfectly in front aboard Gavin Cromwell's five-year-old.
Having gone a good pace on the first circuit with the field well spread out behind him, he looked a sitting duck as French Dynamite, Sire Du Berlais and The Storyteller all seemed to still be going well, while favourite Fury Road was under pressure.
Moore asked Flooring Porter to quicken on the run to the last though, and the 11-1 shot responded in style as he pulled clear of the staying-on The Storyteller by six lengths, with Sire De Berlais a further three-quarters of a length back in third.
A tremendous win for Flooring Porter in the Leopardstown Christmas Hurdle #RTEracing pic.twitter.com/cJOB1HE8hu
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 28, 2020
Cromwell's winner was introduced into the betting at 12-1 for the Stayers' Hurdle by Betfair.
The winning handler was represented by Feidhlim Cunningham, who said: "There has been huge improvement in him.
"He's good going left-handed. Obviously he won the 90,000 euros Grade B handicap in Navan and he was good that day.
"Fair play to the owners. We suggested supplementing him for this and they backed us. They put the money where their mouth is and it's fairly paid off.
"He's really improved and Gavin has done a wonderful job with him.
"Johnny has given him a peach again - it was a similar ride to Navan as he got breathers at the right times.
"We're absolutely delighted with that. You'd have to say Cheltenham would be on the agenda now and we're just thrilled to get the Grade One winner."
Elsewhere, Willie Mullins' domination of the meeting continued as Gaillard Du Mesnil registered a first win on Irish soil at the second attempt in the Tote.ie Maiden Hurdle.
Beaten by Henry de Bromhead’s Holymacapony on his Irish debut, the French import looked in a different league on this occasion.
In what appeared a strong contest, the 11-8 favourite was on a tight rein throughout for Paul Townend and bounded almost 10 lengths clear of Mr Incredible.
He was cut to 16-1 from 40s for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle by Betfair.
"I was very impressed with him. The jump he put in at the second last showed how much he had in the tank," said Mullins.
"He looks like a nice middle-distance horse and we’ll probably stay at that sort of trip with him.
"As he gets more racing I think he’ll settle better, he was a little keen with Paul. He wasn’t stopping at the end and was finishing out the race well.
"He’s a horse that will go up in grade easily enough, I think.
"I suppose we’ll look at the Dublin Racing Festival. It depends what we do with Appreciate It, as we’ll probably try to keep them apart."
Mullins and Townend then won the Pertemps Qualifier with 16-1 shot Dandy Mag.
Townend had plenty to do turning into the straight with at least 10 still in front of him, but Dandy Mag picked up in fine style to see off The Bosses Oscar to win by a length.
"It was a fantastic ride by Paul, who timed it perfectly," said Mullins.
"He was off for a long time before his run at Naas. The ease in the ground and trip were a huge help to him today.
"I’m hoping that gives him his ticket now to run in the final. We haven’t had many runners in it and hopefully he goes there with a reasonable chance."
