Kopek Des Bordes lived up to the considerable expectation around his debut over fences when taking the Pat Sheils Memorial Irish EBF Beginners Chase at Navan.
The Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old was twice a Grade One winner last season, taking novice hurdles at Leopardstown and Cheltenham before a fourth-placed run in the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.
He was the 2-9 favourite under Paul Townend to get his chasing career off to a winning start, and those odds looked more and more reasonable as he travelled round Navan.
Jumping neatly and making matters look very simple throughout, the gelding strolled to a five-length victory to become the new outright favourite for the Arkle with most bookmakers.
Mullins said of the run: "I'm very pleased with that. He has to learn and get experience, and he got a fair bit today I think.
"When he sees a fence, he just wants to go and jump it. He’s very keen in that respect. As he goes up in grade, the pace will get faster and hotter and I think it will be all to his benefit."
In comparison to the well-regarded Final Demand, who won his chasing debut at Navan on Sunday, Mullins said: "He has enough schooling done. This fellow was a bumper horse compared to a point-to-pointer, which Final Demand was.
"He (Final Demand) would have done a lot more schooling in his younger days, whereas this fellow has been schooling mainly over hurdles and a bit over fences."
Mullins’ pencilled-in plans include Leopardstown over Christmas, the Dublin Racing Festival and the Cheltenham Festival, with the trainer saying: "That would look a sort of a plan at this minute – that will be route 'A’ anyway."
The winning jockey added: "I was very impressed with what he did. He figured things out for himself."
When asked what mark out of 10 he would give him, Townend replied: "I’d give him nine."
Found A Fifty held on to his title with a decisive triumph in the Bar One Racing Fortria Chase.
The eight-year-old took the Grade Two event by a neck from Solness last term, but though a subsequent step up to two and a half miles was a success, it seemed three miles was a bridge too far for him on debut this year.
He was dropped back to two miles at Navan under Jack Kennedy, where he started at 5-2 in a reduced field due to the soft to heavy ground which caused the rescheduling of the race from Saturday to Monday.
The going made the contest a real battle and eventually it was Found A Fifty who proved up to the task, coming home five lengths ahead of the Willie Mullins-trained 11-8 favourite Dinoblue as her stablemate Hercule Du Seuil was back in third.
Elliott said: "Two miles on that ground is right up his alley, and probably two and a half miles on better ground.
"It was a good performance and Noel (Moran, of owner Bective Stud) is hitting the crossbar all weekend, so it is great to get a winner for him.
"He jumped brilliant – everything bar the second-last, he was very good."
When asked if the move to three miles will be shelved, the trainer added: "I think we will.
"We will pick and choose his races (over two miles and two and a half miles).
"I'm not sure where we are going to go, but we'll see."
Lorna Fowler's Colonel Mustard proved he was the toughest horse in the field as he took the rescheduled Railway Bar Lismullen Hurdle at Navan.
The popular chestnut was a 12-1 shot under John Shinnick for the Grade Two, as Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay dominated the market as the 8-15 favourite.
The meeting was moved from Saturday after severe rain and with a fixture run on the track on Sunday the going was soft to heavy, conditions Colonel Mustard handled better than any other when prevailing by two and three-quarter lengths from the favourite.
"It is like buses, you wait four years and then two (wins) at once!" said Fowler of the gelding, who triumphed at Sligo in October after a long wait to get his head in front.
"He’s great. For whatever reason, he just comes back every year in great form. I don’t know what it is about this year, he’s just been in extra-special form!
"He has always run well, but maybe there is a little more to him this year. He has been minded well through the years.
"He did take some scalps and Johnny (Shinnick) said he had to keep him up to his work.
"He enjoys it and that’s the whole thing about it. He gets looked after like a king at home – he’s in a small yard, so he is the king of the castle. It really works for him.
"We’re so lucky to have him. We have had him since he was a foal, so the dream has been alive but he has delivered.
"He has nearly given his running on every single run and that is incredible for a horse to bring it to the table as much as he has. He’s the best, he is just fabulous.
"The plan is to go for the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. That was always the plan coming here and the idea was that if he could stay two and a half (miles) on heavy ground, then he should be able to stay three miles."
I’ll Sort That claimed his third successive win this term when battling to a hard-fought victory in the Bar One Racing For Auction Novice Hurdle.
