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.”
